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Christie’s Home-Making. Frontispiece- 


I 




CHRISTIE’S 

HOME-MAKING. 


A SEQUEL TO 

CHRISTIE’S NEXT THINGS. 



MINNIE E. KENNEY, 

w 

Author of “Mrs. Morse’s Girls,” “ Bernie’s Light,” “ Whatsoever Ten,' 
” Christie’s Next Things,” etc. 



NEW YORK. 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET. 




COPYRIGHT 1891, 

BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 


- 1 Z- 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter. Page. 

I. FINIS 5 

II. THE WEDDING-DAY 14 

III. THE WEDDING JOURNEY 20 

IV. MISS JUDY-PAN 28 

V. DISAPPOINTMENT 35 

VI. SUPPER . 45 

VII. MISSIONARY MITTENS 52 

VIII. AN OPEN AIR SERVICE 64 

IX. FULFILLED PLANS 76 

X. PREPARATIONS 85 

XI. THE BEGINNING 95 

XII. MAKING ACQUAINTANCES .... 102 

XIII. AN EXPLANATION Ill 

XIV. OPENING NEW PATHS 119 

XV. WORK . . ' 132 

XVI. NEW PLANS 143 

XVII. CARRYING OUT PLANS 152 

XVIII. ORGANIZING 162 

XIX. HOME-MAKING 170 

XX. NESTING 178 

XXL BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING . . . 185 

XXII. QUESTIONS ; . . 102 

XXIII. UNFULFILLED PLANS 204 


4 


CONTENTS. 


XXIV. THE GOLD DOLLAR 217 

*XXV. A CONSECRATED HOME 227 

xxvr. SUCCESSES 237 

XXVII. A COMMENCEMENT 251 

XXVIII. A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 262 

XXIX. NEW OPPORTUNITIES 269 

XXX. A FRIEND IN NEED 279 

XXXI. REAPING 289 

XXXII. THE SOCIABLE 296 

XXXIII. RESULTS - . . 303 

xxxrv. AUNT Judy’s mitten 311 

XXXV. CONSEQUENCES 320 

XXXVI. UNEXPECTED HELP 328 

XXXVII. A SUCCESSFUL EVENING .... 341 

XXXVIII. FULFILLMENTS 347 

XXX IX. MISTAKES 353 

XL. EXPLANATIONS - 361 

XLI. LAID ASIDE 368 

XLII. NEW WORKERS 375 

XLIII. WAITING 386 

XLIV. COMFORT 396 


CHEISTIE’S HOME-MAKIUe. 


CHAPTER L 

FINIS. 

It is tlie month of roses again, and the air is as 
laden with their fragrant breath as on the day when 
we first made Christie’s acquaintance, three years 
ago. The soft June twilight is gathering, and 
Christie, after a busy day, has curled herself up in 
her favorite attitude upon the broad low window- 
seat, to rest her tired feet and hands and have a 
little time for quiet thought. 

She has much to think of to-night. It is the last 
time that as Christie Gilbert she will spend an 
evening in this room, with all its dainty girlish be- 
longings, that has been her own special nook in her 
home. 

An open trunk stands at the foot of the bed, and 
there is an orderly disorder prevailing everywhere, 
that suggests unusual preparation and hints of de- 
parture. In the room beyond, through the half- 
closed door, you catch glimpses of billowy masses of 
white lying on the bed, and the filmy mistiness of a 
floating veil which is all in readiness for the bride. 


6 


Christie’s home-making. 


No wonder that Christie’s bright girlish face wears 
an unusually thoughtful look, as in the quiet hush 
after the stir of preparation which has made the day 
one busy whirl she realizes that very soon the word 
Finis will be written at the end of her girlhood, and 
a new life, with new cares and responsibilities, and 
new happiness, too, will begin. 

The twenty years which she has seen of life have 
been very happy sheltered ones, and with all her 
bright anticipations for the unknown future which 
stretches before her, it is not strange that. Christie’s 
heart is full to overflowing to-night with a clinging 
tenderness for the home love which has been tried 
and true for so many years. Not that she distrusts 
the new love for which she is going to give up her 
place in the home circle, and go awa}’^ to make a neW 
home and new friends. No, Christie, in her uncon- 
sciousness of her lovable disposition, wonders how 
it ever came to pass that she should have been chosen 
above all others to share the life of the talented 
young minister whom Weston is proud to claim as 
one of her children, and she trusts too fully and per- 
fectly in his love to feel one doubt of her happiness 
as his wife. She doubts with a loving humility 
whether she will be able to make him happy. 
Whether she will be the helpmeet that he should 
have in his work, and whether he will not outgrow 
her, so that as the years go on she will become less 
and less a part of his life, instead of being more to 
him ; but she does not doubt that his love will ah 


FINIS. 7 

ways be, as it is now, the very crown of her happy 
life. 

It is no disloyalty to the man with whom her life 
will be united to-morrow, that makes her cling to- 
night, with a new sense of its sweetness, to the home 
of her girlhood and the mother-love that has shel- 
tered her so tenderly from every trouble. There 
was an unusual degree of companionship between 
this mother and daughter, and Christie knew that 
she would miss the loving counsel to which she had 
been accustomed to turn in every emergency. 

The sound of voices floated down the street and 
broke in upon Christie’s meditations. She recog- 
nized them at once, as we do, for it is the class that 
we met for the first time when they were all about 
to leave their school-days behind them, and who 
have grown closer together in the years that have 
passed since then, instead of drifting apart, as school 
friends so often do, in spite of loyal resolutions. 
“Christie, may we come up-stairs? ” called Louise, 
and hardly waiting for Christie’s cordial assent, they 
trooped up the stairs, bringing with them an atmos- 
phere that dispelled at once Christie’s thoughtful 
mood. 

“ I am glad Howe isn’t here this evening,” said 
Elsie Dunning, as the girls seated themselves on the 
chairs and floor and bed, as their fancy dictated. 
“ It is ever so much nicer to have you all to ourselves 
this last evening, and when he is going to have you 
all the lime so soon, he can afford to let us have one 


8 Christie’s home-making. 

more hour together. How soon you will be beyond 
our reach! ’’ 

“ Oh, Christie, we shall miss you so,” said Louise 
Rushton, who had thrown herself on the floor beside 
Christie, and was holding her friend’s hand in her 
own. “ I don’t know what we shall ever do without 
you. To think that you should have been the first 
to break the magic circle, and be wooed and won, 
and leave us. If it was anyone but Howe Stanley, 
we simply wouldn’t let you go ; but Howe is such a 
splendid fellow, that he comes nearer to deserving 
you than anyone else possibly could.” 

“ Oh, Louise, don’t talk such nonsense,” protested 
Christie, with a blushing face. 

“ It isn’t nonsense,” persisted Louise. “ Is it, 
girls? You haven’t half as good an opinion of 
yourself as you ought to have, Christie, and I con- 
sider it my duty to enlarge your bump of self-esteem 
a little before you leave us and my opportunity will 
be over. You have been a help to us all, and I don’t 
believe I have done one decent thing for the last 
three years that has not been in some way by your in- 
fluence or example. You ought to consider it your 
duty to stay here in Weston and keep me in order, 
lest when you go away I should forget all that you 
liave impressed upon me, and ‘go to the bow-wows,^ 
as the immortal Mantalini has it.” 

“If you are not old enough to keep yourself in 
order, Louise, I will appoint myself a committee of 
one to look after you,” said Elsie Dunning. 


FINIS. 


9 


“ Christie, I shall try to make her more sensible be- 
fore you see her again. It will be a hard task, but 
I shall want something to occupy my mind and keep 
me from missing you too much. Do you know, 
somehow it seems more like our graduation eve to- 
night than anything else. I suppose it is because 
just the same set of us have been making prepara- 
tions for the important event, and we are all to fig- 
ure in the ceremony.” 

“Lay figures, though,” laughed the irrepressible 
Louise. “ Bridesmaids are a very unimportant part 
of a wedding ; they may add a little to the decora- 
tions just as the flowers do, but they are not by any 
means indispensable. I am glad that you wanted 
us all, though, Christie, for we have been together 
in everything ever since we were little toddlers, and 
it seems natural to be with you in this great event. 
Are you frightened? How do you feel, anyway? 
I should think it would scare you to death to look 
forward to being a minister’s wife. I know it 
would frighten me so that 1 should never survive the 
ceremony.” 

“ It would frighten any one to think of your be- 
ing a minister’s wife,” said Elsie, who was very fond 
of teasing. “Such a harum-scarum as you are would 
upset a church in no time. For my part I think 
that Christie is just the very one to be a minister’s 
wife. She loves to go and see sick people and old 
ladies, I am sure she has a talent for leading mis- 
sionary meetings that only needs to be developed, and 


10 


Christie's home-making. 


she has kept us girls in such good order that I know 
she could manage a churchful nicely.” 

“Elsie, stop!” exclaimed Louise. “Christie is 
turning pale, you are drawing such a dreadful pic- 
ture of what is before her. She will think that mis- 
sionary meetings and old women are to be the gen- 
eral occupations of her life, with Sunday-school and 
cooking classes mingled in for diversion. If you 
keep on, you will frighten her so effectually that 
there will be no bride to-morrow, and we shall have 
to put our bridesmaids’ gay attire away for another 
occasion. As no one seems to be pining for any of 
the rest of us, I am afraid they would have time to 
go out of style before another class wedding. Think 
of my feelings, if not of your own, for I am just dy- 
ing to wear my dress, and such a disappointment 
would break my heart. I take back all I said, Chris- 
tie. I think the nicest thing in the world would be 
to marry a minister, and wouldn’t have you miss it 
for anything.” 

“ With such encouragement I think I shall venture 
to try it,” answered Christie, falling in with her friend’s 
bantering mood. “ Seriously though, girls, I do feel 
that I never can be good enough to be a minister’s 
wife. Think of Mrs. Bell, and then compare her 
with me.” 

“ Wait till you have white hair and forty years 
more of experience, and then we’ll compare you 
better,” said Ella Lindsay. “ Mrs. Bell is just lovely, 
but I should think you were too disagreeable and 


FINIS. 


11 


priggish for anything if you were just like Mrs. 
Bell when you are only twenty years old. You'll do 
all right, Christie, if any one ever did, so don’t worry, 
and above all don’t act a bit different from your own 
self. Howe will be dreadfully disappointed in you 
if you try to act as if you were as wise and old 
as Methuselah. If he had wanted a wife like Mrs. 
Bell, he would have paid attention to Mrs. Bell’s 
sister when she came on here for a visit last summer. 
I don’t think she would have had him to be sure, for 
I am afraid she would have thought him too young 
and frivolous, so it is just as well that he took to 
you instead.” 

The girls all laughed. The idea of Howe choos- 
ing Mrs. Bell’s sister instead of Christie was very 
amusing. 

“ It does comfort me, though I know you meant it 
only in fun, Ella,” said Christie, when the merriment 
had subsided. “I don’t feel quite so worried over 
my unfitness for a minister’s wife when I remember 
that Howe wanted me just as I am, and so perhaps I 
can make him happy, even if I am not very wise or 
good.” 

“ There isn’t any fear but that Howe will be happy 
enough,” said Grace Davenport. “All I am afraid 
of is that Christie will wear herself to a shadow 
trying to please every one. Christie, don’t let new 
friends take our place with you, will you ? ” 

“ As if any one could ever be as much to me as 
the friends I have known and loved all my life ! ” 


12 


CHRISTIE S HOME-MAKING. 


answered Christie reproachfully. “I might better 
ask you not to forget about me as soon as 1 go away.” 

The clock on the mantel chimed nine, and Florence 
Dinsmore, more thoughtful than the others, rose to 
go. 

“It is hard to shorten our last visit to you, dear 
old Christie,” she exclaimed with a loving hug, “ but 
you have lots before you to-morrow, and we must 
let you have a chance to rest to-night. After we get 
the church trimmed to-morrow, we will all pile in for 
just one last peep at you as Christie Gilbert; but we 
must go now. Lucky Achsah, you are to stay all 
night.” 

The good-byes were very lingering, but the last 
kiss had been exchanged finally, and Christie stood 
alone in the moonlight, watching the girls go down 
the street. 

Her mother joined her, and put a loving arm 
around her daughter, as the clear white moonlight 
filtered down through the thickly clothed branches 
of the elms and rested on the fair head of the young 
bride elect. 

There were a few tender sentences exchanged as 
they stood there, and realized that at that time on 
the morrow they would be miles apart. 

“Now it is growing late, dear, and it is time you 
were resting for to-morrow,” said the mother pres- 
ently. If it brought the tears very near her eyes to 
realize that her baby was soon to be out of her watch- 
ful care, she gave no sign, for she was too unselfish to 


FINIS. 


13 


mar Christie’s happiness by dwelling upon her lone- 
liness when she should be parted from the daughter 
who had been so much of a comfort and companion 
to her ever since she was first laid in her arms, a 
helpless baby. 

The clock chimed eleven before Christie’s eyes 
closed in sleep. There was so much that the two 
friends had to say to each other on this last night, 
that it was hard to say the final good-night. 


14 


Christie’s home-makikg. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE WEDDING-DAY. 

“W HAT a perfect day ! ” was Christie’s exclamation 
the next morning, when the light streaming across 
her pillow awakened her. Truly it would have been 
hard to imagine a more beautiful day for a bridal. 
The sky was a radiant sapphire, clear and unclouded, 
a gentle breeze was stirring to relieve the heat which 
might otherwise have been oppressive, and the fra- 
grance of the roses pervaded the dewy morning air. 

It was hard to realize that the day she had been 
looking forward to for months had really dawned at 
last, the beginning of it seemed so much like 
other days. There were the usual toilet preparations, 
the quiet moments of prayer at her bedside, the chap- 
ter, and the girlish chat with Achsah that might 
have taken place on any other morning. The morn- 
ing meal was in no wise altered, and only in the 
special tenderness with which the father commended 
his daughter to God’s care and keeping could she 
have felt that this was her wedding day. 

All that was possible to do had been done the day 
before, so there was no feverish haste about any of 
the last preparations. The bridal robes were ready, 
the neat traveling dress and hat were all laid out. 


THE WEDDING-DAY. 


15 


and there was very little that must be done before 
the important hour. It all seemed like a dream to 
Christie, as she followed her mother about, not want- 
ing to lose one moment of these last hours with her. 
The girls had not so much leisure, for the greater 
part of the decorations at the church had been left 
till this morning that the roses might be as fresh as 
possible. The pretty little village church was as 
beautiful as loving hands guided by loving hearts 
could make it, and when the last touches had been 
given to the arrangement of the flowers, not even 
the most critical could suggest any improvement. 
Christie was a universal favorite, and every one was 
glad to do anything that they could to make this im- 
portant day more bright and beautiful to her. 

Maggie Riley came up from Factoryville with her 
arms laden with snowy water-lilies which Christie’s 
pupils in the mission- school had gathered that they 
miofht have some share in the church decorations. 
They had the pleasure of feeling that they had a 
special part in the event of the day, for Christie, 
ever thoughtful of those who had not very much 
pleasure in their lives, had asked that they might be 
the ones to strew flowers in the path of the bridal 
procession. Daintier flower-bearers she might have 
had, but not any who would have more heartily en- 
joyed having the privilege of doing this for their be- 
loved teacher. They had looked forward to it for 
weeks, and there was not one of them who had not 
a new white dress for “ Teacher’s wedding.” Their 


16 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


sense of delightful importance helped to comfort 
them somewhat for the loss of the young teacher to 
whom they owed so much. 

A very different looking set of girls they were 
from the dull and stupid children over whom Christie 
had sighed on the occasion of her first introduction 
to them. 

Maggie Riley had become a capable little house- 
keeper, and she kept the once forlorn looking home 
so neat and cheery in its appearance that her father 
no longer spent his evenings in the liquor saloons, 
as he had under the slatternly rule of his wife, but 
was glad to stay at home with his children. 

Mrs. Riley preferred working in the factory where 
she could have plenty of companionship, to caring 
for her home, so when Mr. Riley, realizing how capa- 
ble Maggie was becoming under the practical house- 
keeping instruction she was receiving at the cook- 
ing-school, suggested that she should give up her 
place at the factory and take care of the house in- 
stead, his suggestion was willingly adopted, and thus 
peace reigned in the Riley household. 

Mrs. Riley declared, to be sure, that it was only 
her husband’s partiality to Maggie that made him so 
contented with everything under the new rule, and 
she could not be induced to admit that the house was 
kept in any better order, or that the well- cooked 
appetizing meals were any more inviting than the 
old time rations of fried pork, swimming in its own 
grease, and soggy potatoes, with stale bread, with 


THE WEDDING-DAY. 


17 


plenty of beer to wash the whole down. Maggie 
had long ago learned not to expect very much from her 
mother, and she was too happy in her father’s ap- 
proval to be at all discouraged by her mother’s in- 
difference, or criticism, which latter was unsparing 
whenever any opportunity presented itself. 

She was an unselfish little mother to the younger 
children, and they went to her with all their little 
troubles and joys, and so Mrs. Riley was just as free 
from any responsibility concerning them as she could 
have wished to be. 

In many another home in Factoryville there had 
been great changes, and the people were beginning 
to learn that by neatness, economy and careful man- 
agement they might have pleasant homes although 
their means were limited. 

The young teachers of the sewing and cooking 
classes did not tire of their self-appointed labor of 
love, and they had so much encouragement in the 
steady progress of their pupils that they were never 
tempted to question whether it was worth while to 
spend so much of their time in the effort to help 
those who by their environment and heredity were 
so little fitted to make the best of their lives with- 
out some assistance and encouragement. Each “ nexte 
thynge ” that the girls undertook was a bit in the 
mosaic of their lives, and they need not fear lest 
they should make a mistake when the}^ followed the 
pattern of the Designer. 

True to their promise, the girls ran in for a last 
o 


18 


Christie’s home-making. 


merry chat before they went to their own homes to 
don their bridesmaids’ array, and then Christie be- 
gan to realize that this was her bridal day, and she 
went up-stairs to put on the floating white robes 
that were awaiting her. Achsah, with loving hands, 
helped her dress, and would not begin her own 
toilet till she had added the last touches to the gar- 
ments of her friend. 

The next hour seemed like a dream to Christie. 
The short drive to the pretty little church, the sea of 
faces, the simple marriage ceremony performed by 
the old minister who had known Christie all her 
life, the triumphant peals of the wedding march as 
the bridal party passed down the aisle, all these 
things seemed dreamlike and unreal to her. 

As the husband and wife were seated in the car- 
riage, rolling rapidly back to the house, Howe drew 
his wife to him in a close embrace. “ My own sweet 
wife,” he murmured, and then Christie realized that 
she was not dreaming, but that their lives were 
linked together with all their joys and sorrows “till 
death shall us part.” 

A sense of unutterable content stole over her, 
and she felt as if no clouds could dim a future which 
should be shared by her husband and brightened by 
the sunlight of mutual love. 

When she stood with Howe beneath a bower of 
roses at one end of the long parlor, and received the 
loving congratulations of friends, she felt again as if 
she was in dreamland, and until the reception was 


THE WEDDTNG-DAY. 


19 


over and she had gone up-stairs to exchange her 
bridal attire for a traveling dress, it seemed to her 
that she should wake up in a moment and find her- 
self asleep in her quiet room. 

When the carriage was waiting at the door and 
she turned to bid her mother good-bj^e, then came the 
sudden realization that she was leaving her child- 
hood’s home for her own, and she clung closely to 
her mother with a feeling which would have been 
sorrow but for the happiness which could not be 
marred at that hour. 

A chorus of “ good-bye ” followed the newly mar- 
ried couple as they went out to the waiting carriage, 
and as the driver took up the reins a shower of rice 
pattered against the panes, while they rolled swiftly 
away. 

Down the long village street they passed with the 
sunlight filtering through the elms, and making 
mottled restless shadows on the pavements, while 
the rose-scented air seemed to breathe a sweet fare- 
well. With the benediction of sunlight and fra- 
grance and love Christie Gilbert Stanley was begin- 
ing her new life. 


20 


CHIUSTIE's HOME-MAKll^G. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE WEDDING JOURNEY. 

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon and the 
Southern express was speeding on its way. Among 
the passengers were Christie and her husband, who 
were enjoying this, their first journey together, with 
the peculiar zest that similar circumstances always 
impart. They had enjoyed planning the trip tO’ 
gether, and it seemed probable that they would be 
able to carry out all the delightful details of their 
plan. This was the third day of their absence, and 
so far the weather had been all that the most exact- 
ing could have req^uired for comfort. It had been 
sunshiny, yet delightfully cool and breezy^ so that 
they were traveling under the most favorable possi- 
ble circumstances for enjoyment. 

“ I believe we are going to have a shower before 
long,” Howe remarked, looking at a dark bank of 
clouds that were looming up against the blue sky. 

“I wonder what we are stopping for,” Christie 
said, as the long train came to a somewhat sudden 
stop in the midst of green fields apparently at some 
distance from any station. “ There must be some- 
thing wrong with the engine, or perhaps there is a 
crossing ahead where we have to wait for another 
train to pass.” 


THE WEDDING JOUENEY. 


21 


The delay was unusual enough to arouse the curi- 
osity of all the other passengers, and Howe with 
several of the other gentlemen left the train and 
went forward to see what had occasioned the sudden 
stoppage. He came back after a few minutes to re- 
port that part of the machinery in the engine had 
broken down, and that there was every prospect that 
there would be a delay of several hours before the 
damage could be remedied. 

‘‘It will just disarrange all our plans for the rest 
of the trip,” he said ruefully as he consulted a time- 
table he had in his pocket ; “ we shall miss our con- 
nections, and as this is Saturday we shall not be able 
to spend our Sunday with Aunt Katherine as we had 
planned.” 

Not even a tedious delay on the railroad track in 
the open country could overcloud Christie’s happi- 
ness, and she smiled so brightly that the shadow of 
annoyance forsook her husband’s face as he caught 
the gleam. 

“ I have found out, though ! am not very old nor 
very wise,” she said laughingly, “ that unexpected 
things are nicer sometimes than things that I had 
planned, and perhaps this may be the same way. I 
am sorry that we shall have to disappoint your aunt 
when she is expecting us, but T know we shall have a 
lovely time wherever we are, so don’t mind about 
the delay on my account.” 

“It was only on your account that I did mind it,” 
Howe answered, mentally contrasting Christie^ s cheer- 


22 


CHRISTIE S HOME-MAKING. 


fulness with the evident and in some cases loudly 
expressed ill-humor of the other ladies in the train. 
“ We really ought to be glad that the accident was 
not a more serious one, as it might easily have been. 
What shall we do to pass away the time?” 

“ Are you sure that it will be some time before the 
train goes on again ? ” Christie asked. 

“Yes,” Howe answered, “for the engineer told 
me that it would take at the very least calculation 
two hours, and he did not think we would get on 
our way again in double that time.” 

“ Wouldn’t you like to take a walk then ? ” Chris- 
tie asked. “ It looks so tempting over there in those 
pine woods, and it is not too far to walk.” 

Howe looked at the dark bank of clouds before 
he answered, but it seemed to him that the storm 
was passing over, and that it would be safe to ven- 
ture from the protection of the cars. 

“ I think that it would be very pleasant,” he an- 
swered. 

In a few moments they had left the cars and were 
on their way across a wide expanse of meadow-land, 
which, although somewhat marshy, had been suffi- 
ciently dried up by the heat of the summer sun to 
make it pleasant walking. 

“ Isn’t this delightful! ” exclaimed Christie, as they 
entered the woods and caught the spicy fragrance of 
the balsams. 

The cool shade was very pleasant after their walk 
in the sun, and the road, which was really nothing 


THE WEDDING JOURN'EY. 


23 


more than a beaten track worn by the wagons that 
passed that way, was carpeted with pine-needles. 

They found a comfortable resting-place after they 
had gone some little distance, upon the trunk of a 
felled tree, and they quite forgot how the time was 
passing as they sat there and enjoyed their surround- 
ings as well as each other’s company. The thick 
dark branches of the pines quite shut out the sky, 
and Howe had felt so assured that the storm was go- 
ing to pass over, that he had thought no more about 
the menacing appearance of the sky until a loud 
peal of thunder startled them. 

“ T believe we are going to have a storm after all,” 
he exclaimed, springing to his feet in dismay. “ We 
are so far away from the cars that we can never get 
back there before the rain comes, and I haven’t any 
idea whether there is a house in these woods or not.” 

Christie glanced down at her dainty grey travel- 
ing suit with the hope that it need not be exposed to 
a shower bath, especially as their trunk had gone on 
before them and she could not make any change in 
her dress till they overtook it. 

“ Listen ! ” she exclaimed. “ I heard a man call- 
ing to some oxen, I am sure. I think he is coming 
this way. Perhaps he can direct us to some place 
where we can find shelter.” 

Howe listened and found that Christie was right, 
and from the rapid approach of the sounds it became 
evident that the driver was making haste to reach a 
shelter himself before the storm should break. In 


24 


Christie’s home-making. 


another moment he came around a bend in the 
road, a short thickset negro boy, running beside his 
unwieldy team, and accelerating their progress with 
loud shouts and an occasional blow of the cudgel he 
carried. 

“ Can you tell me if there is a house anywhere in 
these woods where I can take this lady before the rain 
comes down?” asked Howe, stepping before the team. 

The boy was too much amazed at the sudden and 
unexpected apparition of two well-dressed strangers 
to be able to command his senses at once, but as 
Howe repeated his question, he slipped back his old 
cap and thoughtfully scratched his head. 

“ Well, there ain’t any very near place,” he said, 
after a pause during which Howe and Christie waited 
most impatiently, yet feared to hasten his deliberate 
response lest they should frighten out of him the 
little sense he seemed to have. 

“ I guess you had better make out to get to Miss 
Judy-Pan Hudgins’. She lives nearer than anyone 
else, and you could stay there till the storm’s over. 
There comes a man now that’s going that way, and 
you can get him to give you a lift, for he knows where 
she lives. Everyone knows where Miss Judy lives.” 

The prospects of a lift were not inviting to a fas- 
tidious mind, and Howe looked somewhat doubtfully 
at Christie as an ancient wagon with two wheels, 
drawn by an equally antiquated horse, appeared in 
sight. 

“That is a dreadful thing to ride in,” he said. 


THE WEDDING JOURNEY. 


25 


“and yet I suppose tliat old horse can take us to 
shelter more quickly than we can walk. It seems 
to be the only thing left to do. I ought to have 
been more careful of you than to get you into such 
a scrape as this.” 

“ Now I shall begin to blame myself if you talk 
that way,” Christie responded. “ You remember I 
was the one who suggested the walk. It will really 
be fun to have a ride in such a ridiculous old wagon, 
and it wont hurt us a bit.” 

As the wagon approached them Howe asked the 
driver if he would take them to “ Miss Judy-Pan 
Hudgins’,” hesitating a little over the queer name 
lest he might be making a mistake. 

It seemed to be perfectly familiar to the man how- 
ever, and he told them that they could get in the 
wagon and welcome. 

“ I am sorry that there’s no place for the lady to sit 
down,” he said, as Howe helped Christie to scramble 
into the back of the wagon. “ Would she like to 
sit here? ” he asked, hospitably trying to make room 
on the bit of plank that, put across the front of the 
wagon, served for a seat for himself. 

“ I shall be very comfortable here, thank you,” 
Christie responded, seating herself upon the news- 
paper which Howe took from his pocket and spread 
upon the dirty floor of the wagon. 

“ Now, if you don’t mind a little shaking up I will 
make Major do his best so that you won't get a wet- 
ting,” the man said, as he took up his lines again. 


2G Christie's home-MxIking. 

Howe assured him that they would not mind any- 
thing if they could only escape the storm, and as 
another peal of thunder warned them that it was 
very near, the old man began to encourage his liorse 
in stentorian tones, every now and then emphasizing 
his exhortations with a blow from the ends of the 
lines which served as a strap. The only effect of 
the blows however was to bring dust and hair out of 
the rough coat of the animal, and the greatest speed 
to which he could be urged was a sort of shambling 
trot. The occupants were sufficiently well shaken 
up by this trot, however, to be quite reconciled to 
the pace, even if it was not a very rapid one. 

“ This makes me think of the directions on a med- 
icine bottle,” laughed Christie, as she held her hat 
in place with one hand and gathered up hair pins 
that had been jolted out of place with the other. 
“‘To be well shaken when taken ’ to Miss Judy-Pan 
Hudgins’. Did you ever hear such a name before in 
all your life, Howe? I am really looking forward to 
seeing her. She must be a character if slie is as 
original as her name.” 

“ I hope we shall soon have an opportunity of see- 
ing her,” Howe said, as the first drops of rain began 
to fall through the pines. “ If I had only brought 
our umbrella so that you could have had that little 
protection from the rain at least. I never was so 
thoughtless before, and if we get safely through with 
this adventure you may be sure 1 never will be 
again.” 


THE WEDDING JOURNEY 


27 


“There Is Miss Judy’s,” said the driver, pointing 
to a little cabin just before them. “ It’s lucky there’s 
no danger of her ever being out, or you might not 
be able to get in after all. She’ll be glad to see you, 
for she don’t have very much in the way of company.” 

As the wagon stopped at the little cabin, the door 
was thrown open, and Miss Judy, evidently antich 
pating the errand of the guests, called out in a high 
shrill tone, “ Walk right in with the lady. You’ve 
got here just in time, for the rain is beginning 
already.” 

Her guests did not delay in accepting her invita- 
tion, and Howe swung Christie from tlie wagon to 
the threshold just as the rain began to fall in good 
earnest. 

Miss Judy invited the driver to stay till the storm 
was over, but he declined. 

“ I ain’t salt, nor yet sugar ; and I guess it won’t 
hurt me,” he said, and thanking Howe for the pecu- 
niary acknowledgment of his kindness which the 
latter placed in his hand, he started Major ofP again, 
and Miss Judy closed the door after him and turned 
back to her unexpected but none the less welcome 
guests. 

“ Sit right down,” she said hospitably, drawing up 
a little three-legged stool for Howe, and the only 
chair of which the room boasted for Christie. “ And 
now do tell me where on earth you ever came from, 
for I know you don’t belong around here.” 


28 


Christie’s home-makikg. 


CHAPTER IV. 

MISS JUDY -PAN. 

“We were on our way down to Fortress Monroe 
on the express train, when it broke down here ; and 
we thought, as there would be a delay of two or 
three hours at any rate, we would take a walk and 
look at the country,” explained Christie, as the in- 
quiry seemed to be directed to her. 

“ For the land’s sake ! ” ejaculated Miss Judy-Pan. 
“ You don’t say that the express train broke down ! 
Was it much of an accident now? Was any one 
hurt ? ” 

“ No, no one was hurt and the delay was the most 
serious part of the whole thing, and that is not suf- 
ficiently great to complain about,” Christie answered. 
“We did not notice how the storm was coming 
up, and if we had not been directed to you I am 
afraid we might have had a drenching.” 

“I dare say,” Miss Judy-Pan answered. “It 
would have been safer to have had an umbrella with 
you ; but then young folks will be young folks, and 
you can’t expect them to think of everything. I 
fancy you ain’t very long married,” she went on 
presently, with a glance at Christie’s grey dress, 
which did look bride-like in its daintiness and deli- 
cate shade. 


MISS JUDY-PAN. 


29 


The rosy blush which crept up in Christie’s cheeks 
was a sufficient answer to the question, and she went 
on, “ Well, I hope you will have a happy life and 
lots of sunshine in it; and when you get to the 
stormy places I hope you will always have shelter, 
though I hope it will be a better one than this is. 
You’re very welcome anyhow, and that is all you 
could be anywhere. What is your business, young 
man, may I ask, if it isn’t asking too much? ” 

“ I am a minister,” Howe answered. 

Both he and Christie were quite unprepared for 
the outburst of extravagant delight with which this 
answer was received. 

“ You don’t mean to say that you are a minister! ” 
Miss Judy-Pan exclaimed, her wrinkled old face be- 
coming fairly radiant with joy. “ Why, if you were 
welcome before, I just haven’t any words to tell you 
how glad I am to see you now that I know that you 
are the blessed Lord’s own dear people. I never ex- 
pected that I would have the privilege of having 
a minister in my poor little house, and I believe he’s 
sent you to me just because he knew that I was 
hungry for the sight of a minister. If you ain’t too 
tired, sir, would you mind reading a bit of the good 
book, and having a word of prayer,” and fairly trem- 
bling with eagerness, she took a well-worn Bible down 
from a little shelf and handed it to Howe. No thirsty 
traveler in the desert could have evinced more joy 
at the sight of a spring of refreshing water, than did 
this poor old woman at the thought of a word of 


30 


Christie’s home making. 


prayer with a minister of the Gospel in her own 
humble home. 

Verily this was something very different from what 
they had anticipated when they left the train, and 
both Howe and Christie were strangely touched at 
the thought that their steps had been led to this 
little cabin, where so warm a welcome awaited those 
who came in the name of the Lord. The thunder 
was crashing among the thick pines, and the rain came 
down in torrents, while every now and then a vivid 
flash of lightning illumined the smoke-darkened 
rooms of the little cabin, as Howe read one of the 
grand old psalms that have comforted unnumbered 
generations of God’s saints, and that fell like a re- 
freshing shower upon Miss Judy’s heart. 

“ The dear Lord’s name be praised,!” ejaculated 
Miss Judy, as they rose from their knees after an 
earnest prayer. “ I never expected to hear the voice 
of a minister again in my lifetime ; though if they 
could manage it, I did hope I might have one to say 
the last words over me when it shall please the dear 
Lord to take me home. To think that I never 
guessed what goodness he had laid up for me to-day ! 
His ways aren’t our ways, are they ? I never should 
have thought that he would have planned it so won- 
derfully as to have the train stop here, almost at my 
very doors as you might say, and then that he would 
bring you right here to me. And now the storm is 
beginning to break away, and you will soon be able 
to go on your way again. It's too bad that there’s 


MISS JUDY-PAN. 


81 


no way for you to ride over to the train, for I am 
afraid the young lady will get her feet wet. If I 
only had anything that would any way near fit her, 
she would be welcome with all my heart to it, but 
my slippers — that’s all I wear on account of my feet 
being so bad — would go on both of her feet at once, 
and then you wouldn’t know that there was any- 
thing in them.” 

“Never mind,” said Christie cheerfully. “ I have 
a pair of slippers in iny traveling bag, and when we 
get back to the cars I will put them on, and so I will 
be very comfortable until my shoes get dry.” 

“I can’t help feeling somehow as if I was to 
blame for it,” said Miss Judy-Pan. “You see it’s all 
on account of your having the inconvenience of 
getting caught in the storm that I have had this 
blessed hour", and so I wish I could make it easy for 
you somehow.” 

“It has been a great pleasure to us too,” said 
Christie. “ You must not think that the pleasure 
has been all on your side. I would have been quite 
willing to get my feet wet*for the sake of having 
had this little prayer-meeting with one who appre- 
ciates it so much. Is there no church near here, or 
are you not able to go? ” 

“ I’d find a way to go fast enough if only there 
was a church to go to,” Miss Judy-Pan answered. 
“ The trouble is that the nearest preaching is fif- 
teen miles away, and then it is only once in two or 
three months that they have it, and I can’t get to 


82 


Christie’s home-making. 


hear of it half the time ; and then I haven’t any one 
to take me all that way and bring me back. All 
those as have ways to go have so many of tlieir own 
to take that an old woman like me can’t have a place 
very well. The last time I went I rode in an ox-cart, 
but I was so shook up by the time I got home again 
that I was fit for nothing for days. I wouldn’t have 
minded that, for myself, but it was such a lot of care 
to my nephew's wife, for she’s a busy woman, and 
she had to leave her work every now and then and 
come over to see how I was getting on, and I told 
myself I had no right to take a pleasure that cost 
other people so much trouble. You see there are 
only a few families scattered about here, and they 
are all poor, and so they couldn’t afford preaching 
privileges even if any one would come for such a 
few. When I was young I lived down on the east- 
ern shore where I could go to church and meeting 
ever}" time the bell rang ; and so it seems awful lone- 
some never to hear the sound of a church bell, and 
not to have anything to make it seem like Sunday. 
I suppose it will make me all the gladder when I get 
to heaven where I can join with all the saints in 
praising God night and day, but ‘ my soul longeth, 
yea even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord,’ ” re- 
peated Miss Judy reverently. 

Both Howe and Christie enjoyed talking to this 
dear old saint upon whom they had so unexpectedly 
stumbled, and the time passed pleasantly and profit- 
ably until a gleam of sunshine and the hush that 


MISS JUDY PAN. 33 

sueceeclecl the soughing of the wind, told them that 
the storm was over. 

Howe looked at his watch and uttered an excla- 
mation of surprise. 

“I had no idea that the time was passing so 
quickly,” he said. “ We have just half an hour to get 
back to the train, if it sliould leave at the end of two 
hours, though I hardly expect that it will. This has 
been a very pleasant break in the monotony of the 
long delay and one that we sliall never forget, 
Miss ” 

He hesitated. It seemed so absurd to call her 
Miss Judy-Pan, and he had a great desire to know 
what her name really was, for it surely must be that 
some local slovenliness of pronunciation had twisted 
her name into “ Judy-Pan.” 

“ I should like to know the name of one who has 
been such a kind hostess,” he said. 

“Judy Paran Hudgeons i^ my name,” said Miss 
Judy, who had a more distinct way of speaking than 
most of her neiglibors. “ You see there are so many 
Hudgeons of us around here, that we would get all 
mixed up if we didn’t all give the full name when 
we were calling each other, and so right often we 
drop the Hudgeons and go just by our first two 
names. I am most generally called Aunt Jud}^- 
Pan by those that know me, and I’ve lived here 
so many years now that I feel as if I was aunt to 
the whole lot of them, whether I am or not. Well, 
I am sorry you must go, and 1 wish I could tell you 
3 


34 


Christie’s home-making. 


how thankful I am to you, and to the good Lord for 
sending you.” 

After they had said good-bye, and started on their 
way under the dripping pines, the old woman hob- 
bled to the door and watched them as long as she 
could see them, and then she went back to her chair 
feeling as if she had entertained angels unawares. 


DISAPPOINTMIST. 


35 


CHAPTER V. 

DISAPPOINTMENT. 

“ Isn’t she the dearest old saint ? ” exclaimed. 
Christie enthusiastically, as she walked over tlie 
slippery wet pine-needles, needing the support of 
her husband’s firm arm every now and then to keep 
her from losing her balance. “ I feel quite repaid 
for these little wet spots on my dress, when I think 
of the pleasure you gave her and how she enjoyed 
that prayer. I never dreamed of an3^one being as 
really hungry for the means of grace as she is. I 
don’t suppose anything else could have given her the 
pleasure that this unexpected opportunity for prayer 
did.” 

“ I never was more touched by anything than by 
her eagerness to have me pray with her,” remarked 
Howe. “ I think this has been one of the little un- 
expected bits, Christie dear, that has been better 
than our own plans could have been. It will be one 
incident of our wedding journey that I do not think 
we will ever forget.” 

This unexpected happening, if we can call any- 
thing a happening which is part of God’s plan for 
our lives, had not yet come to a conclusion. As they 
reached the edge of the pine woods, and came out 


36 


CHRISTIE’S HOME MAKING. 


into the meadow again, to their consternation they 
saw the engine puffing as if the* engineer was get- 
ting up steam ; and although Howe wildly waved 
and beckoned, and even essayed to shout, though he 
was conscious that the distance was too great to 
afford the least chance of being heard by the engi- 
neer, the train rolled away, leaving Howe and Christie 
in a most unenviable predicament. 

Saturday afternoon at four o'clock, with all their 
belongings except Howe’s pocket-book, which he for- 
tunately had in his pocket, miles away from any vil- 
lage where they might have hoped to find at least a 
tolerably comfortable shelter over Sunday, and near 
no station where they might have hoped to take a 
later train. To add to the complication, the sun- 
shine suddenly vanished, and even a less weather- 
wise man than Howe could have foreseen that the 
storm which had just broken had only been the har- 
binger of a severer and more lasting one. 

“ What shall we do ? ” cried Christie, decidedly 
dismayed at the prospect. 

“ The first thing will be to get back to shelter 
again at Miss Judy’s, before the rain comes on again, 
and then perhaps she can advise us what to do. It 
may be that there is some comfortable house where 
we can find accommodations over Sunda^^” Howe 
answered, mentally condemning himself for having 
lingered sufficiently long to allow even a chance of 
being left by the train. 

“ It is not two hours yet since we left the train, 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


37 


and if it liad waited as long as the engineer said it 
would surely have to, we could have had ample 
time to return to it befojie it started,” he went on 
presently, in an annoyed tone, looking at his watch 
again. “ I feel as if 1 had been so abominably care- 
less, Christie dear, to have got you into such a pre- 
dicament, and yet after the storm came up I hardly 
know what else we could have done. We started 
almost the moment the rain stopped, and even if we 
had known that we would miss the train by waiting 
we could not have ventured out in the rain without 
any protection, for you would have been completely 
drenched, and besides the discomfort you would 
have surely taken cold. I am afraid you will any- 
way, for I know your feet must be wet.” 

“ Now please don’t feel as if it was anything that 
you could have helped,” Christie said, forgetting her 
own annoyance in the desire to make her husband feel 
more at ease. “ A s I said before, if I had not proposed 
the walk we would have been in the cars, and so it 
is all my fault, if fault there is any. Of course we 
shall not have quite as pleasant a Sunda^^ as we had 
planned to spend with your aunt, but I have no 
doubt we shall enjoy it very much. As the old 
driver said about himself, I am neither sugar nor salt, 
and so even if we get wet, a little rain water won’t 
hurt me, though I am not so sure about the fate of my 
dress. It’s quite an adventure, and we shall have 
lots of fun thinking about it afterward, I know, 
though perhaps our enjoyment will be more retro- 


38 


Christie’s home-making. 


spective than present. Won’t Miss Judy-Pan, as I 
shall always want to call her, be surprised to see us 
back again.” . 

They walked rapidly toward the pine woods again, 
and as they could hardly expect that they would be 
favored with another lift on the way, they hastened 
their steps as much as possible lest they should be 
caught in the rain. 

Miss Judy was as astonished as Christie had ex- 
pected her to be, when she came to the door in re- 
sponse to Howe’s knock and recognized the guests 
from whom she had so lately parted. 

“Well, land of mercy!” she exclaimed. “You 
don’t surely mean to say that you have missed the 
train after all, or perhaps it ain’t going any farther 
to-night.” 

“ We missed it. Miss Judy,” explained Howe, as 
they entered the little cabin again. “We reached 
the edge of the woods just in time to see it start off, 
and so we had to see it go away without us. We 
came back here to ask your advice. What had we 
better do ? Is there any house where we could be 
accommodated over Sunday near here ? If 3’ou can 
tell me of one, I will go and see what arrangements 
I can make after the storm is over ; or if it promises 
to be an all-night pour, as I am somewhat afraid it 
will be, I will go very soon.” 

“ You had better sit down and rest a spell and let 
me think,” said Miss Judy reflectively. “I declare 
I don’t know what to say. There-are such a mighty 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


39 


few houses near here, and they ain’t the most of them 
much better than mine, except perhaps a little big- 
ger. There’s my nephew, but he hasn’t any spare 
room, and they have so many children that you 
would be drove clean distracted by Monday. There’s 
Lein Nathan Hudgeons, but it’s a long walk from 
here, and they often go down to their married daugh- 
ter’s to spend Sunday, so it’s mighty uncertain 
whether you could catch them home or not. That 
would be your best chance, anyhow, but you had 
better wait a spell and see if the storm isn’t going 
to maybe blow over.” 

The storm showed no such intention, however, 
and before the next half hour had passed away it 
came down in gusts which drove against the window 
panes in white sheets, and seemed as if it was determ- 
ined to force an entrance. When the first fury of 
the rain subsided it still came down relentlessly, and 
there was no room for doubt that it had settled in 
for a storm. 

Howe was still more dismayed at the prospect of 
getting Christie to a comfortable place, when, upon 
making inquiry of Miss Judy, he found that he would 
not be able to get any covered vehicle. 

“If I hadn’t such a poor place, and nothing fit to 
put before you to eat, I would be so proud if you 
would stay with me all night,” said Miss Judy 
eagerly. “ I would do the very best I could for you, 
and though it’s a poor enough place, I don’t know 
but you would be quite as comfortable here as you 


40 


Christie’s home making. 


could be any wliere. You could have my -room up- 
stairs all to yourselves, and I could make out nicely 
liere in my chair all night. I often do sleep down 
here anyway, when my feet are bad and I am afraid 
to climb up-stairs all alone. Seems to me it would 
be better than getting as wet as you would have to 
to go anywhere else, and you don’t know how proud 
I would be to have you. Except that I feel badly 
about not being able to do better for you, there isn’t 
anything in the world that could make me as happy 
as to think that I had entertained a minister and his 
wife.” 

There was no mistaking the cordialit}' of the in- 
vitation, and small and destitute of comforts as the 
little cabin seemed, it was beautifully clean, and they 
would probably be just as comfortable there as thej^ 
could be anywhere else. Besides, as Miss Judy had 
said, they would be sure to get wet if they had to 
expose themselves to the inclemency of the weather. 

Howe hesitated but a moment before he responded 
to Miss Judy’s invitation, and reading Christie’s as- 
sent at a glance, he said, 

“You are kindness itself. Miss Judy, and we 
should be very glad to accept your invitation if you 
are sure that we will not give you too much trouble. 
It is too bad to take your bed, though, and you must 
sleep in it yourself, and let us make ourselves as 
comfortable as we can down here.” 

But ]\Iiss Judy protested so earnestly against this 
arrangement, that Ilowe and Christie saw that her 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 41 

hospitable feelings would be hurt if she were not 
allowed to carry out her plans for their comfort. 

When Miss Judy had carried her point, she began 
with delighted alacrity to make preparations for her 
guests’ supper. 

“ You must take your wet shoes off, the first 
thing,” she said to Christie, who was trying to dry 
her wet shoes by holding her feet toward the 
smouldering embers of the open fire. “ I’ll give 
you a pair of my clean stockings to slip on while 
your own things are drying, and there wont be any 
danger of your taking cold then.” 

Christie was about to protest that she could dry her 
feet just as well without taking off her shoes when 
Howe seconded Miss Judy’s suggestion. He was 
very anxious lest Christie should take cold, and 
really suffer from the effects of this adventure, for 
which he felt responsible in spite of Christie’s at- 
tempt to take the blame upon her own shoulders. 
Christie’s small feet were quite lost in the length and 
breadth of the blue woolen stockings, and her eyes 
sparkled with amusement as she doubled the toes 
over and secured them with a pin so that they should 
not trip her up when she tried to walk about. She 
looked about the small room v/ith no little curiosity 
as to how Miss Judy contrived to live with any de- 
gree of comfort when she had so few of the conven- 
iences of modern life. 

Everything was as primitive as possible. The open 
fireplace was simply a small brick chimney built into 


42 


Christie's home-making. 


the wall of the house, and the fire was kindled upon 
the ground, without any andiron to hold the sticks. 
A strip of iron with a hook at one end was fastened 
to one side of the chimney, and upon this an old 
kettle swung. A frying-pan with a long handle con- 
stituted the remainder of Miss J udy’s cooking uten- 
sils. The three-legged stool upon which Howe un- 
comfortably balanced himself, a padded chair awk- 
wardly constructed from a barrel, and a foot-stool, 
together with a small table was all that the room 
could boast of in the way of furniture ; and a very 
small shed that opened from the side of the room 
opposite the fireplace held Miss Judy’s wood pile 
and a broad shelf upon which she kept her eatables. 
The walls of the little cabin were just the smooth 
sides of the split logs of which the little cabin had 
been built, and they had been tinted with the 
smoke of years to mellow shades of brown which 
would have charmed an artist’s eye. 

“ Isn’t this fun ! ” Christie said softly, as Miss 
J udy bustled into the little shed. 

The anxious expression on Howe’s face relaxed 
into a smile as he caught the gleam in Christie’s 
eyes. 

“ I shall think so if you do, dearest,” he said, in 
relieved tones. “I could enjoy anything with you, 
but I was feeling very badly about having you ex- 
posed to hardship the very first thing after leaving 
your home.” 

Christie was honestly enjoying her unusual expe- 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


43 


rieiice, and this peep into a life so entirely different 
from her own. 

“I wish you would let me help you, Miss Jud}^,” 
she said, as she noticed how lame her hostess was 
and how hard it seemed for her to move about. 

Miss J Lidy looked positively horrified at the sug- 
gestion. 

“ Why, I wouldn’t think of such a thing for the 
world,” she said in shocked tones. “ Indeed it’s only 
a pleasure to do for you, and if I had more to do 
with I would be as happy as a queen ; but there, one 
can’t do more than one’s best, and you know that 
I am doing that with all my heart, don’t you? I’m 
awful afraid you wont be able to make out to eat 
any supper. If I had known you was coming I 
would have got something better somehow, if I 
possibly could.” 

“Don’t worry about us, Miss Judy,” Christie an- 
swered cheerfully. “ What 3^11 have will do very 
nicely for us, and I know we shall enjoy it very 
much indeed.” 

Christie rather doubted this a little later as she 
saw of what the evening meal was to consist. It 
had never entered into any of her experiences of the 
poverty she had met in her mission work, that the 
food was not eatable, if only there was enough of it. 
She seriously began to wonder whether, hungry 
although they were after their early lunch, they 
would be able to eat anything. 

Miss Judy put some sticks on the fire, and it was 


44 


Christie's iioME-iMAKiNG. 


soon blazing up cheerfully, while the kettle began to 
give an anticipatory hum. 

“ 1 wish I could make a cup of tea for you,” said 
Miss Jud}^ as she emerged from the depths of her 
little shed. “ My nephew gave me a drawing of 
tea for a Christmas present, for he knows I'm power- 
ful fond of it, and if I had ever dreamed I was go- 
ing to have a minister here to stop with me you 
may be sure I would have kept it ; but one night I 
was terribly laid up with my rheumatiz, and I 
thought it would be so comforting that I just made 
myself a pot of tea, and so it’s all gone. I'm that 
sorry I don’t know what to do, to think 1 might 
have had it now if I hadn’t used it up.” 

“ Indeed we don't either of us care particularly 
for tea,” said Christie. “ I am glad you had it when 
you needed it so much, and we would both of us 
rather have had you use it than keep it for us.” 

“ I hope you don’t mind the flavor of chickor}",” 
went on Miss Jud}^, as she put some ground sub- 
stance into a tin pail, and poured the water from the 
now boiling kettle over it. “ I don't care for it 
much myself, but some of the folks around here like 
it better than tea. I hope you will be able to make 
out to drink it,” she went on somewhat anxiously. 

“ Now, Miss Judy, you must not worry about us,” 
protested Christie. “ We shall be very comfortable, 
and you must not give yourself a bit of anxiety on 
our account.” 


SUPPER. 


45 


CHAPTER VI. 

SUPPER. 

“ Do you erit fish? ” Miss Judy asked. 

‘‘Yes, we are very fond of fish,” Howe replied, 
for the inquiry had been directed to him. 

“I‘m glad of that,” Miss Judy replied, as she took 
two small fish out of a little barrel of brine, and 
washing them in water to remove some of the salt, 
proceeded to put them in the long-handled frying^ 
pan and cook them. 

“ What kind of fish are those ? ” asked Christie 
a little curiously, for thej^ were not familiar to her. 

“These are bug fish,” Miss Judy answered. 
“Leastways that’s what the folks around here call 
them, though I believe they have different names in 
other places. They use them mainly here to fertil- 
ize the ground with, but some of us eat them and 
like them pretty well.” 

“ That is an odd name,” said Christie, not feeling 
particularly drawn toward her prospective supper by 
its name and by hearing that it was not usually used 
as an article of food. “ Is there any reason for giv- 
ing the fish that name?” 

“ I guess it’s only a foolish story, but they do say 
that when the fish dies it opens its mouth, and a little 


46 


Christie’s home-making. 


bug runs out, and so they call it a bug fish ; but I 
guess that isn’t really so. They catch lots of them 
out in the river, and my nephew brings me home a 
lot when he goes down that way, and I put them 
down in salt so I will be sure of having something 
to eat on hand all the time. They ain’t as good as 
herring or mackerel, but then folks can’t always be 
choosers.” 

When the fish were cooked. Miss Judy slipped 
them on a tin plate and stood them down beside the 
fire to keep warm. 

“ Would you rather have your sweet potatoes cold 
or hot ? ” she asked. 

Christie looked a little puzzled. 

“ You see I haven’t any oven, and the sweets 
around here are too wet to boil ; so my nephew’s 
wife, she has a stove, and she bakes up half a barrel 
at once for me, and sometimes I eat them cold and 
sometimes I warm them up. I think they are a little 
the best cold though. These ain’t been cooked 
more than a week, so they taste pretty good yet. 
Now that it’s getting hot weather they don’t keep as 
well as they do in winter.” 

Christie could scarcely restrain her surprise at 
hearing of potatoes being cooked for future use by 
the half barrel. 

“ I think we would like them cold, then, if you 
think they are nicer that way, wouldn’t we, Howe ? ” 
she asked. 

“ Certainly,” Howe answered politely, though he 


SUPPER. 


47 


liad begun to share Christie’s fear that not even polite- 
ness would enable them to eat much of this unusual 
supper. If they had only brought the little lunch 
basket with its dainty contents that was speeding 
down to Fortress Monroe in their unoccupied seats I 

Miss Judy spread a newspaper upon the table in 
place of a table cloth and putting two tin cups be- 
side the tin plates which she had placed there for the 
accommodation of her guests, she laid a two-pronged 
fork at each place. 

From the shed she brought a flat hoe-cake made 
of yellow corn-meal mixed with salt and water and 
baked in the ashes, and some of the cold baked po- 
tatoes. 

A great pity filled Christie’s heart as she watched 
the old yroman so hospitably setting forth of her 
best. Was it possible that this was her usual food, 
food that she would hardly have expected a hungry 
dog to relish ! Christie thought that she had seen 
something of poverty and privation in her visits 
among the factory people, but she mentally confessed 
that they lived like princes compared to poor Miss 
J udy. 

Two battered spoons completed the table appoint- 
ments, and then after inquiring whether they liked 
sugar in coffee. Miss Judy put some from a small 
box, that was evidently kept for choice occasions, in 
the cups, and poured the hot liquid over it. 

“ Now, sit up, and make as good a meal as you 
can,” she said hospitably, evidently feeling some 


48 


CH uistie’s iiome-m aking. 


pride in her supper, which was set forth with a de- 
gree of efegance that was not usual. 

She would not eat with them, though Christie and 
Howe both urged her to, and she would not sit down, 
as by doing so she would rob one of her guests of a 
seat. 

“ I shall be all right here,” she said, seating her- 
self on the floor beside the fire, and then turning 
her back to them with some instinct that perhaps 
they would eat more freely if she were not looking 
at them. Miss Judy began to revolve delightful plans 
of having, oh, wonderful treat ! a preaching service 
on the morrow. 

If only it would happen that her nephew would 
come over as he almost always did on a Sunday 
morning, she could tell him that a minister was stay- 
ing with them, and he could go round and let every one 
know, so that in the afternoon they could all come 
and have an out-door service among the pines. 

The healthy appetites of her guests had been 
whetted by their walk in the open air, and by the 
long time that had elapsed since their lunch, but 
hungry though they were they found it almost im- 
possible to choke down a mouthful. By eating two 
or three mouthfuls each of the fish, and strewing it 
round their plates, they made it seem as if they had 
partaken of it, and then they tried a potato. Not 
even politeness and the desire to please their host- 
ess could make them force down more than one 
mouthful of the cold soggy mass. The hoe-cake 


SUPPER. 


49 


was hard and dry, and seemed to defy them to eat 
it, and Howe could not do more than taste the 
liquid called by courtesy coffee. 

Christie was so determined that Miss Judy should 
not think that they could not eat the meal she had 
so gladly bidden them to, that she made herself eat 
quite a little piece of the hoe-cake, but Howe se- 
creted his piece in his pocket, determined to dispose 
of it in some other way than by eating it. 

With a wry face Christie gulped down her chick- 
ory, while Howe quietly poured part of his back into 
the tin pail. 

“ Isn’t there anything more you will have ? ” Miss 
Judy asked, as her guests arose from* the table. 

“No, thank you,” Christie answered. “Now you 
must take my chair, Miss Judy, and let me see you 
enjoy your supper.” 

The rain was falling less heavily now, and as the 
room was becoming rather too warm with the heat 
of the fire. Miss Judy suggested that they should 
open the door, as there was no danger that the rain 
would come in, for the wind was in the opposite di- 
rection. 

Christie and Howe stood side by side in the lit- 
tle doorway, enjoying the cool air even if it was 
damp, and looking out into the dark shadows of the 
pines. 

Perhaps the fact that they were both heartily 
hungry had something to do with the feeling of de- 
pression and homesickness that made them rather 
4 


60 


Christie's home-making. 


quiet for a few minutes, and a longing for the creat- 
ure comforts of civilization which neither of them 
liked to admit, made the rain and the soughing of 
the wind among the trees have a dreary sound. 

“ Well, we are together, aren’t we, dear ? ” Howe 
asked, as he put his arm-about his wife and drew her 
closely to his side ; and as Christie nestled up to him, 
she forgot everything but the thought that as her 
husband said, they were together, and so a little 
hardship could be smiled at instead of lamented. 

“Isn’t it rather lonely here for you. Miss Judy?” 
asked Howe presently. “ Have you any near neigh- 
bors.” 

“ No, I’m all alone by myself,” Miss Judy answered 
cheerfully. “The nearest neighbor I’ve got is about 
a quarter of a mile away. It used to seem powerful 
lonely at first, but then you can get used to anything 
and I never think anything about it now.” 

“ It doesn’t seem right for you to be all by your- 
self, though,” said Christie. “ Haven’t you any one 
who could stay with you?” 

Miss Judy shook her head. 

“No, there ain’t any one who would want to come 
out here to such a lonely place and stay. I used to 
live with my nephew till five years ago, but his 
family got so big that there didn’t seem to be any 
room ; and then my rheumatiz got bad, and I was of 
no use and only in the way, and we all agreed that 
it would be best for me to have this little place by 
myself. My nephew owned it, and no one else 


SUPPER. 


61 


wanted it, for it’s too small for any one that has any 
family. We had no hard feelings about my coming 
away. I didn’t like to sit around and see so much 
to be done when I couldn’t do any of it, and then I 
s’pose I am beginning to get old, and the noise of the 
children made my head bad, and I used to wish I 
could get quiet sometimes and have a little chance 
to think. My nephew’s very good to me. He 
brings me all I have, and he sees to it that there is 
always something in the house to eat, and whatever 
I have it’s the same as they have themselves at home. 
I worry sometimes over what will become of me 
when I get sick and need care, and then I remember 
that the Lord always has taken care of me, and the 
more need I have of his care the more sure I will be 
of having it.” 

The odor of burning leather attracted Christie’s 
attention, and she turned toward the fireplace with 
an exclamation of dismay. 

Her shoes had been put beside the fire to dry, 
and while every one had forgotten their near prox- 
imity to the burning sticks, a bit of blazing wood 
had fallen from its place, and rolled over until it lay 
against the sole of one of Christie’s shoes. 


62 


Christie's home-making. 


CHAPTER VII. 

MISSIONARY MITTENS. 

It had not taken but a few moments for the burn- 
ing coal to make a hole through the thin sole of 
Christie’s kid shoe, and when she picked it up, she 
was dismayed to find that the sole was badly burned 
and curled forward in such a way that it looked as 
if it would be impossible ever to get her foot into it 
again. 

Christie’s sense of the ridiculous overcame her 
dismay, and at the thought of being obliged to wear 
Miss Judy’s blue stocking till she overtook her trunk 
at Fortress Monroe, she burst into a merrj^ peal of 
laughter which was contagious. Howe and Miss 
Judy both joined in it, though a moment before 
neither of them had regarded it at all as a laughing 
matter. Howe could not imagine what Christie 
would do without a shoe, as it was not at all probable 
in the benighted region in which they had found 
themselves that they could get another for her ; and 
Miss Judy was so mortified at the thought of hav- 
ing permitted an accident to happen to anything 
belonging to her guest, that she had been on the verge 
of tears until she heard Christie’s laugh. 

“ But how will you ever get it on again?” Miss 
Judy said at last. 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


53 


Christie looked at the shoe for a few minutes be- 
fore she answered. At first sight it did seem to be a 
hopeless enough looking affair. 

“ I think I can fix it so I can wear it, at least until 
we get to our trunk,” she said after a little pause. 

“1 think you can bend the sole straight for me, 
Howe, and then if you will cut off the part that is 
burned and twisted out of shape, I will put a piece 
of pasteboard in for a sole, or several folds of paper; 
and as it is not cold weather, I can get along very re- 
spectably until we get to Fortress Monroe.” 

“ That will be quite an ingenious way to fix it,” 
Howe replied. “ I was afraid it was quite out of the 
question to do anything at all with it.” 

Miss Judy went back to her supper, which she ate 
with evident appetite and relish, and Christie men- 
tally resolved that when she went home she would 
see that some luxuries, among them a packet of tea, 
should find their way to this comfortless abode. 

When she had finished her meal and washed up 
the dishes, which latter operation did not require 
much time, Miss Judy announced that she would go 
up-stairs and see that the bed was comfortable for 
her guests. Christie directed her eyes toward the 
square hole in the ceiling, with inward queryings 
how Miss Judy ever got up there. Did she fiy ? 

‘ “I suppose you are wondering how I go up stairs, 
now ain’t you ? ” said Miss J udy good naturedly . “ I 

used to keep the steps out all the time, but I found 
they took up so much room that I keep them in the 


54 Christie’s home-making. 

shed now, and only take them out when I want to 
use them.” 

She retreated into the shed, and presently reap- 
peared bringing a sort of compromise between a lad- 
der and a set of steps. Howe rose at once to relieve 
her of their weight, in spite of her protestations, 
and placed them beneath the hole in the ceiling. 

Slowly and with the greatest of care lest she 
should lose her balance, Miss Judy’s unwieldy form 
disappeared through the opening above, and Howe 
and Christie, could hear her moving slowly about as 
she made preparations for their comfort for the night. 

“I should think she would break her neck going 
up and down those steps, as rheumatic as she is,” 
said Christie softly. 

“ I don’t see how she ever gets down again with- 
out falling,” said Howe. 

They were soon to see, for in a few minutes Miss 
Judy began to come in sight again. First her large 
carpet slippers came in view and she sat down at the 
top of the opening and placed her feet firmly on the 
steps before she risked the farther descent. 

By dint of long practice she achieved the descent 
very successfully and skilfully, and reached the floor 
safely in spite of Howe’s fears. Howe insisted that 
he could be very comfortable upon the footstool, and 
made Miss Judy take her chair, which she was very 
loath to do while her guest occupied such a lowly 
position. Finding that he was in earnest, she yielded 
at last, and getting her knitting- work down from the 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


65 


shelf where she kept it beside her Bible, she began 
to knit. Her poor old hands were so stiffened Avith 
rheumatism and hard work that she could scarcely 
grasp the needles, and every stitch cost laborious 
effort. She was knitting a pair of mittens, though 
Christie fancied that they must be intended for some 
giant they were so unwieldy in their proportions. 
They were quite the ugliest things that Christie had 
ever seen in the mitten line, knit in a little plaid of 
brown and dingy grey checks, with a thumb that 
seemed altogether disproportionate in size to the rest 
of the mitten, and which stood out and away from 
the rest of the work as if it disdained it altogether. 

The evening dragged wearily, and at a very early 
hour Christie and Howe were fain to bid their host- 
ess good-night and express a wish to retire. 

As they knelt together in evening prayer before 
going up-stairs, Christie was impressed as she had 
never been before with the unifying power of the 
Christian religion. Here was this poor old woman 
with whom they had not another interest in com- 
mon, who had opened her home and placed all that 
she had, poor though it was, at their disposal, because 
they were followers of the Master she loved and 
served, and they could gather around the family 
altar feeling drawn together as if they had been 
friends, because of their common love for the 
Saviour. 

“I am glad I happen to have a bit of candle for 
you to go to bed by,” Miss Judy said, as she lighted 


66 Christie’s home-making. 

a very diminutive bit of a tallow dip, from the fire, 
and placed it in Christie's hand before she ascended. 
“ I don’t often have a light myself, for the day is 
plent}" long enough for all I have to do, and I am 
ready to go to bed by the time it gets dark.” 

Christie was glad too, for she was not sufficiently 
accustomed to going to bed in the dark to care to 
undertake it in strange surroundings unless it was 
necessary. She had a curiosity to view the upper 
chamber and see if it accorded with the lower part 
of the house. 

“I hope you will find everything comfortable,” 
Miss Judy said, as Christie, with some misgivings as 
to her skill in climbing, began to ascend the steps, 
with Howe close behind her, ready to catch her if 
she should lose her balance. 

The room up-stairs was even smaller than the one 
below, and quite as sparsely furnished. There was 
a bedstead with a gay patchwork quilt upon it, and 
an inverted barrel which evidently was supposed to 
serve the purpose of a table. 

“ Look at the mural decorations,” whispered 
Christie softly. 

The walls were festooned with bunches of herbs 
which had been hung there after having been dried, 
and they swayed gently to and fro as the air came in 
at the open window and stirred them. 

Howe did not answer. He had seated himself 
upon the side of the bed, and had assumed a most 
woe-begone aspect. 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


57 


“ Why, Howe, what is the matter ? ” asked Christie. 

“ Oh, I am so hungry ! ” groaned Howe, lowering 
his voice so that his hostess should not suspect his 
feelings. “Christie, I am absolutely starving. I 
believe I could eat you. And if I am so hungry 
what must you be, for you ate less lunch than I did.” 

“ I am so hungry, too ! ” confessed Christie. “ Oh, 
Howe, I think it is the most ridiculous thing in the 
world that we should go to bed hungry when we are 
on' our wedding trip.” 

“ It’s more sorrowful than ridiculous,” Howe 
answered. “ Seriously, Christie, can you stand it un- 
til morning, or shall I go out and try to get some- 
thing to eat ? ” 

“ Oh, I shall manage to survive it,” Christie re- 
plied. “ I don’t believe you could find anything to 
eat if you did go out, Howe, for we are miles away 
from any stores ; and as for going to some other 
house to try to buy something to eat, in the first 
place I don’t believe it would be much better, and 
then I would rather almost starve than have Miss 
Judy pver hear that we were not satisfied with her 
supper after she did the best she could for us. Per- 
haps to-morrow we shall be so hungry that we shall 
be able to eat bug fish and cold potatoes, or perhaps 
she may have something better for breakfast. I feel 
as if I had never half appreciated the comforts of 
my life before, when I think of that poor old woman 
living upon such food.” 

“ I wonder if that can be our breakfast that is un- 


58 


Christie’s home-making. 


der way already,” said Howe, as a smell of buriiiiig 
woolen arose. 

“ Something else is sharing the fate of my shoe,” 
Christie said laughingly. “ I don’t think it is our 
breakfast, though, Howe. You needn’t worry about 
that.” 

An exclamation of distress, followed by low sobs 
from the room below, attracted Christie’s attention, 
and she went to the opening in the floor and looked 
down to see what Miss Judy’s trouble was. 

The poor old woman was holding the mitten upon 
which she had been at work, in her hands, sobbing 
over a hole which had been burned in it, and which 
was yet smouldering, giving out the disagreeable 
odor common to burning wool. 

“ It’s her ugly old mitten that got burned this 
time,” Christie explained to Howe. “ I am going 
down to see if I can’t comfort her a little, she is cry- 
ing so hard over it.” 

“ Just look,” said Miss Judy, holding up the mit- 
ten for Christie to see as she carefully climbed down 
the steps and went over to the fireplace beside which 
the old woman was sitting. “ It’s burned so I won’t 
be able to do anything with it. Oh, what shall I 
do?” 

Christie was surprised at her distress, which seemed 
so disproportionate to the worth of the mitten, for 
poor as Miss Judy was, surely she would not grieve 
so sorely over a little burnt yarn. 

“ I am sorry it is so badly burned,” she said com- 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


59 


fortingly. “Were you knitting it for some special 
purpose ? ” 

“Yes, it’s iny missionary mitten,” Miss Judy an- 
swered. “ There, I dare say you are thinking that 
I am a very foolish old woman, and I am, I know ; 
but I wouldn’t have had anything happen to that 
mitten for all I’ve got.” 

Christie wondered why Miss Judy called it her 
missionary mitten. Was it possible that it was go- 
ing out in a missionary box to some poor missionary ? 
Christie thought that missionary life might have 
greater trials than she thought of if wearing such 
hideously ugly mittens was a possible part of it. 

“ You said it was a missionary mitten,” she said. 
“ Did you mean that you were going to send it to a 
missionary ? ” 

“ Oh, I forgot that you didn’t know,” said Miss 
Judy. “You see this is the way of it with the mit- 
tens I make. About five years ago there was a lady 
stopped near here for a few days on her way out 
west wdiere she was going to be a missionary. I 
heard her talk about all the awful wickedness of the 
place she was going to, and how much they needed 
schools and churches and money for the work the 
missionaries wanted to do, and it just made my heart 
ache to think that with all the dear Lord had done 
for me, I had never done one single thing to send 
the gospel to anyone else. 1 was dreadful bothered 
about it for a while, for I never have a cent of money 
and I had no way of saving anything to give away, 


60 Christie’s home-making. 

but I prayed that somehow I might be able to do 
something. If I had known more and been young 
and strong, I would have been glad to go myself with 
this lady and do what little I could toward telling 
those poor creatures that the Lord died for them, 
but I wouldn’t be any use and only in the way. 
One day the man over here at the store asked me if 
I would knit a pair of mittens for him, and he said 
if 1 would he would give me enough yarn to make 
another pair for myself, and then he would try to 
sell them for me. I was awful glad of the chance, 
but my fingers are so crippled up that though I 
worked nearly all my time it took me six months to 
get one pair done. It took six months more to get 
the next pair done, but I had good success and they 
sold right off. The men like my mittens because 
they are so strong and knit so close that they say 
they never wear out. I had fifty cents then for 
missions, and as I hadn’t the address of the lady 
that told me about it, I just send it to the address 
that is printed on the little book she gave me, and 
it always gets there all right. I am glad when the 
receipt comes back to me, for then I know my fifty 
cents has gone to work. I know it is only a little 
and maybe not worth the sending, but then I remem- 
ber the boy with his loaves and fishes, and I think the 
Lord don’t need great things to do his work with. 
He can bless little things and use them just as 
well.” 

Christie listened with a positive reverence for the 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


61 


poor old woman who so unconsciously told this story 
of self-denial and generosity. 

“ Do you mean that it takes you the whole year 
to earn fifty cents ? ” she asked. “ Do you work six 
months just to get the yarn to make the pair you 
sell?” 

“ Yes, and this is my own pair that I am working 
on now, you see, and so now I don’t know what I 
will do ; for I can’t get any more yarn until I knit 
another pair, and that will make me six months late 
with finishing my own and sending the money. It 
will be harder to sell them then, too. Well, there’s 
no use worrying over it. The good Lord knows I 
meant to give him all I could, and he’ll know I 
couldn’t help this. I don’t see how I came to be so 
careless, just after letting your shoe burn, too. I 
suppose I was nodding and so it slipped down off 
my lap.” 

“ I want you to let me buy that burned mitten 
from you just as it is,” said Christie. 

“ No, indeed, I couldn’t let you think of doing it,” 
protested Miss Judy. “’Tisn’t good for anything, 
and I couldn’t let you get it just to help me. That 
wouldn’t be right, though you are awful good to 
think of it.” 

“But it isn’t just to help you out that I want to 
get it,” Christie said. “ Indeed, Miss Judy, I am 
sure that it will do more work for missions just as it 
is, all burned and spoiled, than it would have done 
if you had finished it and got the money you ex- 


62 


Christie’s home-making. 


pected to for it. We have a missionary society in 
the church I have always been connected with, and 
sometimes there are only two or three gifts in 
the whole year that cost any self-denial, and a good' 
many of us don’t always take the trouble to go to 
the meetings even. I want to send them this mitten 
and tell them the story of it to read at their next 
meeting, and I think when they hear how you work 
all the year to earn fifty cents, and then instead of 
spending it on any comfort for yourself give it all 
to missions, that a great many will feel how little 
they give and will be ready to deny themselves 
more.” 

It seemed such a little thing to Miss Judy that she 
should toil all the year with her poor cramped fin- 
gers that she might earn the privilege of contribut- 
ing to the missionary cause which had so deeply 
stirred her heart, she could not understand how it 
would reproach those who had given only of their 
abundance and never denied themselves in the least. 
It was some time before Christie could make her 
promise to let her buy the burnt mitten. It was 
only by representing to her that perhaps this was the 
Lord’s way of using her work that she consented at 
last. 

Christie carried the old mitten up-stairs with her 
when she went back to her husband, and as she put 
it down before him her eyes were full of tears. 

“ Howe,” she said softly, “ I don’t think I have 
ever realized the least bit of what self-denial can be. 


MISSIONARY MITTENS. 


63 


To think of this poor old woman who hasn’t even a 
cup of tea to cheer herself with, denying herself the 
few comforts she might have, that she can send fifty 
cents a year to the missionary society ! It is an 
honor to know her and to stay under her roof.” 

“Even if it is leaky,” said Howe with a smile, as 
the rain found a place of entrance, and dropped upon 
his neck so unexpectedly that it made him start. 
“ She certainly is a remarkable woman, Christie, and 
after I have a good meal so that I shall not be so 
hungry, I shall be glad that we were thrown in her 
way. Our light is getting near its end, dear, so you 
must hurry if you don’t want to come to bed in the 
dark.” 

Christie made all the haste she could, but the bit 
of candle had burned down to its socket, and after 
flickering feebly went out entirely before she was 
ready for bed. 

It did not take her long to go to sleep, for she was 
tired, and more than that, verj^ hungry, though she 
had been reluctant to admit it. 

“I do like good old Miss Judy, but I should be 
very glad if we could have a good breakfast and 
share it with her,” Christie mused, as she listened to 
the soft patter of the rain upon the roof. But in a 
little while she had forgotten her hunger and weari- 
ness in a soft refreshing sleep. 


64 


cheistie’s home-making. 


^ CHAPTER VIII. 

AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 

Very early the next morning, almost as soon as 
the first rays of the June sun began to fiush the 
eastern sky, Miss Judy was awake and was watching 
at her door for some chance messenger whom she 
might send upon an errand. It was more than an 
hour before her watch was rewarded with the sight of 
anything more than the squirrels which now and 
then came near her, and frisked fearlessly about upon 
the pine-needles or ran up the trees to disappear in 
the branches. 

At last she heard a whistle that seemed to be com- 
ing nearer all the time, and presently a small colored 
boy in his gay Sunday shirt of red flannel that made 
him look like a bright poppy, emerged from the 
trees. A wide straw hat was tipped back on his 
head, and his pants, which were evidently the property 
of some one of larger growth, were drawn up by 
suspenders until they reached nearly to his shoulders. 
“ Hush your noise, and come here a minnit. Si,” said 
Miss Judy, as he came near enough to be within 
speaking distance. 

“ Si, I want you to do a favor for me,” she went 
on, “and I will make it up to you in some way. I 
have got a minister and his wife staying here.” 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 


65 


Silas thrust his tongue into his cheek and looked 
at her with a waggish expression of unbelief. 

“That’s likely, now ain’t it, Aunt Judy! Where 
did you get them ? I always thought that you was 
too good to tell what wasn’t so.” 

“ You’re a bad boy to talk that way. Si,” said Miss 
Judy reprovingly. “ Of course it is true or I 
wouldn’t say so. They were on the express train 
yesterday that broke down out here, and they got off 
to take a walk and got left. They couldn’t get any- 
where else on account of the rain being so bad, and 
so I just did the best I could for them. It’s awful 
poor, though, and not what they have been accus- 
tomed to, so I want you to go over to my nephew’s 
and tell him about it for me. Tell him if he could 
bring me over something for them for breakfast I 
should be dreadful glad ; and tell him too that I 
guess the minister will preach for us, if we can only 
get word around to the people that there is a chance 
of a preaching service. Now you run right along, 
so’s he won’t be too late coming over. Don’t you 
forget what I’ve told you.” 

“ No, I’ll remember first rate,” said the boy. “ All 
I ever forget is to go fishing and to come in to din- 
iier. 

Miss Judy knew Si well, and she was not afraid 
in spite of his nonsense that her message would be 
forgotten. She was sure that her nephew would 
bring her over something for breakfast for her unex- 
pected guests, and she was glad that she would have 
5 


66 


Christie’s home-Making. 


something better to offer them than the f)lain fare of 
the night before. 

Si’s message was promptly delivered, and it threw 
the Hudgeons family into a state of pleasant excite- 
ment. They felt as if it was due for the credit of the 
family that the minister and. his wife staying under 
Aunt Judy’s roof should be made comfortable, and 
preparations were at once made to get a good break- 
fast for them. Their ordinary fare was not so very 
much better than that of Miss Judy, but they could 
muster up the materials for an appetizing meal upon 
extraordinary occasions, and this they accounted 
one. 

“ Maria, I reckon I can find one of them broilers 
that is big enough to kill,” said Seth. “ You could 
stir up a little light bread and T will take some milk 
over, and so thej^’ll make out finel}^” 

The whole family were soon astir, bent on hos- 
pitable purposes, and by the time Christie and Howe 
had awakened, nephew Seth stopped before the door 
of the little cabin with a well-filled basket upon his 
arm. 

“So you’ve got company. Aunt Judy,” he said, 
as the old woman came out to meet him, glad to see 
that he had not come empty-handed. “ This is all I 
could fetch, being as there wasn’t much time ; but I 
reckon they will make out well enough with it. ITl 
go around and let all the folks know that there will 
be preaching service, if the minister will preach, and 
we’ll have a good meeting.” 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 


67 


“ Sit down a spell till he gets up, and then we will 
see what he says, though I don’t make any doubt 
but that he will be willing,” said Miss Judy. 

Up-stairs Howe and Christie were trying to perform 
their toilets as well as they could, without many of 
the appurtenances which they had heretofore con- 
sidered as actual necessities. A small pocket-comb 
which Howe fortunately happened to have with 
him had to answer for both Howe and Christie. 

“ I won’t know how badly my hair looks,” said 
Christie, when she had arranged it as well as she 
could without any brush. “ There are some advant- 
ages in not having a mirror, if one can only think 
of them.” 

The arrangements for washing were of course, as 
might have been expected, of the most primitive 
kind. At the back of the house where the water 
that ran down the sloping mossy roof dripped into 
a rude gutter, was a rain water barrel, and a tin bas- 
in. hanging beside it was alike dipper and wash 
bowl. A clean but very coarse towel, looking as 
if it was not accustomed to every day use, had been 
produced in honor of the guests. 

The water was delightfully cool, and though in- 
numerable tiny pollywogs disputed its possession 
with Christie, she rather enjoyed the novelty of the 
whole performance. 

“If I was not so dreadfully hungry,” she said to 
herself, for she did not know of the contents of the 
covered basket in the corner of the shed, and she 


68 


Christie’s hOxME-making. 


wondered how she could satisfy her hunger upon 
cold potatoes and hoe cake. 

When Howe came down to take his turn at the 
basin, he found Miss Judy’s nephew waiting to speak 
to him. Clean shirt sleeves were full dress toilet 
with Seth, so he sav\^ no reason to wait until Howe 
had finished his usual morning toilet, to make his 
acquaintance. Howe consented willingly to preach 
as soon as the subject was broached, and Seth went 
off at once to scatter the news so that there would 
be a good attendance. 

“Where would be the best place for the meeting?” 
asked Aunt Judy. 

“ Under the big trees by our place,” answered 
Seth. “ I will come over with the cart or send one 
of the boys for you, and I don’t believe the minister 
and his wife will mind the walk, for it ain’t so far if 
one isn’t lame.” 

“ That will be a good place,” said Aunt J ud3^ 
“ Now mind you tell every one, Seth, for there ain’t 
many chances that we get of having preaching.” 

It was a perfect morning after the storm of the 
night before. The sun was shining brightly, there 
was a pleasant breeze, and a soft hush seemed to 
pervade all nature and make one conscious of the 
Sabbath calm even here in the solitude of this pine 
forest. 

Miss Judy somewhat proudly spread forth her 
breakfast. Whatever might have been lacking in 
her meal of the night before would surely be made 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 


69 


up for now. Her guests were quite as appreciative 
as she could have wished them to be, and they ate 
a morning meal with as vigorous appetites as she 
could have desired them to have ; they were too hun- 
gry to be very fastidious, and enjoyed all the unex- 
pected good things with the sauce that hunger gives. 
It was a treat to Miss Judy too, and she found the 
chicken and light bread much more appetizing than 
her daily fare of fish and hoe-cake. 

“ If it won’t tire you too much,” she said depre- 
catingly, “ will you have a word of prayer this 
morning ? I know you are going to preach this after- 
noon, but if you knew what a treat it is to me to 
have a chance for a prayer you wouldn’t mind my 
asking you.” 

The wrinkled old face, brown and smoke dried, was 
a study of peace and serenity as Miss Judy listened 
to the reading of the words which she well nigh 
knew by heart, but which seemed so doubly precious 
to her when uttered by a minister and under her 
own roof. 

She lingered on her knees after the last word of 
the prayer had been uttered, apparently loath to 
leave the divine presence. I am so glad it’s a good 
day, for then every body can get to meeting,” she 
said, as she went to the door and looked up into the 
blue sky, apparently anxious to convince herself 
that there was no probability of a storm arising to 
interfere with the service upon which she had set her 
heart. 


70 


Christie's home-making. 


Christie wanted to help her about the morning 
work, but she refused to let her do anything. 

“ That dress is too pretty even to sit down in my 
house with, and you needn’t think I am going to let 
you do anything in it that might soil it,” she said. 
“Anyway, there isn’t anything much to do, and I can 
easily manage it.” 

When she had finished the few tasks that were to 
be performed, she went out to see what her guests 
were doing, and found that they were walking about 
under the trees, enjoying the spicy odor of the bal- 
sams, which seemed all the more fragrant after the 
rain. Satisfied that they were enjoying each other’s 
society more than they could if there was an addi- 
tion to their number, she went back to the house, 
and sat down in the doorway to rest after her exer- 
tions. 

Christie found her here a little later when she 
came back to sit and chat with her hostess while 
Howe took a little time to meditate upon what he 
should say that afternoon, as he had not come pre- 
pared with any discourse. 

“I suppose you don’t dip,” said Miss Judy after a 
while in a somewhat deprecating way. 

Christie looked bewildered. 

“I don’t think that I understand just what you 
mean,” she said at last, after vainly trying to guess 
what Miss Judy meant, so that she need not be 
obliged to ask her. 

Miss Judy produced a little tin box, and what 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 71 

seemed to be a small stick with one end made into a 
sort of a brush. 

I reckon that you never even heard of dipping 
before,” she said, smiling. 

“No, I don’t believe I did,” Christie replied. 

“ Well, I don’t suppose it’s a very nice thing to do, 
but it’s a great fashion around these parts. It’s tak- 
ing snuff this way,” and Miss Judy wet the brush 
end of the stick in her mouth, and twirling it deftly 
around in the contents of the box, raised it to her 
lips, laden with what adhered to it, and put it in her 
mouth. 

When Christie was a little girl, she had once seen 
an old woman who was fond of indulging in a pipe 
after dinner, but this seemed a more shocking thing 
yet to do, and for a few moments she felt her liking 
for Miss Judy suffering a serious decline. She re- 
proached herself for this feeling, however, a few mo- 
ments later. Why should she expect this ignorant 
old woman to be any more refined in her habits or 
cultivated in her tastes than any of her associates ? 
“The grace of God can dwell with some people 
that you and I couldn’t.” The quotation which she 
had heard or read somewhere came back to her mind 
with new meaning. There was no doubt but that 
the grace of God dwelt in this heart, even though 
there might be much that was uncouth about the 
person. 

After Christie had recovered from her first disgust 
at seeing Miss Judy dip, she quite enjoyed her chat 


72 


Christie’s home-making. 


with the old woman. Her life had been so quiet and 
uneventful, and so different from anything that 
Christie had ever known, that it was like turning the 
pages of an old book to listen to her talk. The 
hours passed pleasantly until dinner time, and after 
that meal was concluded it was time to start for the 
place where the meeting was to be held. Seth had 
not forgotten his promise to send for his aunt, and 
one of his boys made his appearance with the ox-cart, 
with a heap of straw in the bottom upon which Miss 
Judy could sit, while the horns of the old ox were 
garlanded in honor of the day. 

It was a delightful walk along the pine-carpeted 
road, and Christie and her husband enjoyed every 
step of it. They were together, and of course they 
were the most congenial of companions, and they 
were both interested in these new surroundings upon 
which they had so unexpectedly stumbled. 

“Wouldn’t we have been surprised if we had 
known all that was going to happen to us when we 
got off the train yesterday ? ’’ said Christie medita- 
tively. “It seems as if it must have been a week 
ago at the very least, instead of less than twenty- 
four hours.” 

“ I don’t believe we should have left our seats if 
we had known the sequel,” said Howe. “ Still I 
don't regret it, particularly after our good break- 
fast, for it has been a different experience from any 
that we would have been apt to encounter, and we 
shall enjoy it in retrospect as well as now.” 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 


73 


A few steps farther brought them to the clearing, 
where a large space had been made by felling the 
trees and cutting away the underbrush, and only two 
large trees with outstretched branches were left, as 
patriarchs of the forest. 

It was beneath these trees that service was to be 
held, and while one of the women took Christie to a 
seat which had been reserved for her, as a favored 
guest, in a carriage which had brought some of the 
audience from a distance, Howe was escorted to the 
little table, which holding a Bible and hymn book 
was placed beneath the tree. An old colored 
uncle with a fiddle that looked as if it might have 
seen use at the festivities of cornhusking and like 
country amusements, sat near the table ready to lead 
the singing with his instrument. 

It was a picturesque scene, and one which Christie 
was sure she would never forget. The faces of the 
people were all more or less tired and care-worn. 
Even the young people looked as if they had found 
life a hard struggle, as indeed they had, and they 
were prematurely bent and furrowed, almost before 
the bloom of youth had hardly had its day. 

It was evident that they all felt the occasion one 
of privilege, and Howe, remembering how seldom 
they had the opportunity of listening to the Word of 
Life, prayed very earnestly that the message might be 
chosen for him to deliver to this congregation which 
he had not sought but which had been chosen for 
him. 


74 


Christie's home-making. 


He gave out a familiar hymn, and the old uncle 
played it over from memory, every now and then in- 
termingling with the air weird little minor melodies 
which made a strange and not unpleasing variation. 
The singing was hearty if not melodious. Every one 
joined in with all his might, and those who did not 
know the words hummed away in a conscientious 
effort to do their part. 

It was no eloquent sermon nor elaborately ar- 
ranged discourse which the young minister uttered. 
It was just a simple message to these simple folk of 
the love of their heavenly Father. “ Casting all 
your care upon him, for he careth for you,” was the 
text; and a feeling of restfulness stole into many a 
weary heavily -burdened heart as they heard the as- 
surance that they were not forgotten by the love 
which suffered not even a bird to fall to the ground 
unheeded, nor by the Saviour who so wonderfully 
revealed the Father's love. After the sermon, if 
the pleasant informal talk can be called by so' pre- 
tentious a name, more singing followed, and then 
with the benediction the service closed. 

Howe went from one to another, escorted by Seth, 
who felt the importance of being the one who had 
arranged this service, and shook hands with his con- 
gregation, feeling greatly touched at the gratitude 
which was warmly though shyly expressed. After a 
little while the old fiddler struck up another famil- 
iar tune, and he was soon surrounded by almost all 
those who were present at the meeting, all glad to 


AN OPEN AIR SERVICE. 75 

enjoy a little more singing before they separated and 
went to their homes. 

When at last the congregation had somewhat re- 
luctantly dispersed, Miss Judy was helped into her 
equipage, and the ox began to slowly lumber down 
the road again, while Christie and Howe walked 
slowly along behind. 

“ Do you know, in spite of all these inconveniences 
and these spots on my traveling dress that I am 
pretty sure will not come out, I am glad we were 
left by the train,” said Christie. “ It was worth any 
amount of hardship and discomfort to have brought 
the comfort and help that you did to these people 
to-day. I enjoyed watching their faces while you 
were speaking. They did seem to drink in every 
word so earnestly. I don’t believe you will ever 
have a more attentive congregation, Howe, or a more 
appreciative one, although you could easily find a 
more intelligent one anywhere. This afternoon has 
been perfectly delightful.” 

“ I have enjoyed it too,” said her husband thought- 
fully, and I hope that tlie message that I brought 
them will give them comfort and help.” 

“I am sure of that,” Christie answered. “You 
ought to have seen, as I did, the care-worn look 
brighten into a restful expression upon some of those 
tired faces.” 


76 


Christie’s HOJME-^IAKI:^:G. 


CHAPTER IX. 

FULFILLED PLANS. 

The next morning Seth came with an old buggy 
wliich was the best vehicle that could be borrowed 
in that neighborhood, and took Howe and Christie to 
a station at which they could take a train that would 
carry them to a place where they could connect with 
the main road from which they had strayed. Miss 
Judy would not hear of their remunerating her in 
any way for her hospitality, and she carried her re- 
fusal to the point of tears. 

“ It’s more of an honor than I thought was ever 
coming to me, to think that I could have a mmister 
under my roof ; and it would take all the pleasure 
out of it if I thought 3^ou wasn’t willing to let me 
do such a little thing as that for you.” 

When they found that it would really hurt her 
feelings to insist, they contented themselves with 
thanking her most heartily, while they privately 
planned to send her some comforts that would make 
her lonely life brighter. 

“ I shall never forget Miss Judy,” said Christie, 
when the long drive was over, and they were seated 
at last in the car. “ I have the burned old mitten 
to remember her by, and do you know I think that 


FULFILLED PLANS. 


77 


old mitten will preach more effective missionary ser- 
mons upon self-denial and giving that costs, than 
any of the most able speakers in the land could. I 
shall never be able to give without being sure that 
there is some self-denial in my gift when I remember 
what her gift cost — a whole year of work. Besides 
the mitten to remember this trip b}", I shall have my 
poor shoe with its uncomfortable ugly sole, all burned 
up by Miss Judy’s fire, and these spots on my dress 
for which, though she is not responsible, 5"et the 
weather in her part of the country is. I feel as if I 
would enjoy making a toilet with the assistance of a 
brush and comb and mirror again. Do I really look 
fit to travel as I am now ? ” 

Howe smiled as he looked at her laughing face. 

“ Yes, I do not think that any of the passengers 
will object so strenuously to your appearance as to 
ask to have you put off the train. Still I agree with 
you that it will be refreshing to reach a place where 
we can have the conveniences to which we have been 
accustomed.” 

Howe had telegraphed to his aunt that they had 
been detained, but would be with her that evening, 
and when the train rolled into the station she was 
there to meet them. 

“ Where have you been and what has happened 
to you ? ” she asked, after she had warmly welcomed 
Christie, whom she had never seen before. “ 1 could 
not imagine what had happened to you, when the 
train came in two hours behindhand and you were 


78 


Christie’s home-making. 


not on it. At last the conductor said that a lady 
and gentleman had left the train when it broke down 
and he was sure that they must have been left, as 
after the train went on again he noticed that their 
seats were empty. I had a peep at the traveling 
bag and wraps which he had put in the office for safe 
keeping, and I was so sure that they were yours that 
I resolved not to worry any more, but just concluded 
that you had missed the train and would make your 
appearance to-day. When I received 3^0 ur telegram 
I was satisfied that I had done the wisest possible 
thing under the circumstances.” 

“As you always do, Aunt Katherine,” Howe 
added, with a smile. 

“ Tell me all about it; or is it too long a story to 
tell till tea time ? ” Aunt Katherine said, as the car- 
riage bore them swiftly away from the station to- 
ward her home. 

“ It’s rather too long a tale to begin just now,” 
Howe answered. “Show her your foot, Christie 
dear, and let her see that it is no common adventure 
which has detained us.” 

“ Why, what happened to you ? ” exclaimed Aunt 
Katherine, as Christie held out her ragged shoe for 
inspection. “ You look as if you had been through 
fire and water.” 

“ My shoe certainly did,” laughed Christie, 
“ through the one and the other.” 

“Now you must restrain your curiosity till we get 
home, Aunt Katherine,” said Howe. “ It’s too inter- 


FULFILLED PLANS. 79 

esting a tale to spoil in the telling, and you must be 
patient.” 

It was not until they were gathered around the 
tea table, with its dainty appointments and appetiz- 
ing dishes, that Howe began an account of the ad- 
venture which had delayed them. 

“ This is very different from the last meal we sat 
down to, isn’t it, Christie ? ” he said, as he stood and 
admired the tasteful combination of delicate china, 
embroidery, and damask napery, which made the 
meal a pleasure to more senses than that of taste. 

“You poor children ! ” exclaimed Aunt Katherine, 
as Howe dwelt upon his hunger. “ 1 never knew 
you were a man given to appetite before, Howe, but 
you say so much about your deprivations in the line 
of eating that I shall not be afraid of your not doing 
ample justice to my supper. How about Christie? 
Wasn’t she hungry, too? ” 

“ Yes, I know she was in the same condition, but 
then she suffered silently, which made it seem less 
serious,” Howe answered. “I will tell you when 
her grief broke out. Aunt Katherine ; when she found 
that she would have to make her toilet without a 
mirror, then I think her suffering exceeded any that 
hunger could have inflicted upon her.” 

“ Don’t believe him,” Christie said laughingly. “ I 
was priding myself upon my superiority to ordinary 
feminine vanity, for I have managed to exist very 
comfortably ever since Saturday morning without a 
glance at a mirror until I reached your house this 


80 


Christie’s home-making. 


evening. I must confess that I was very glad, when 
I did see myself, that I had not been able to look in 
a glass before, for as I was separated from my trav- 
eling bag and could not have improved my appear- 
ance in any way, I should not have been unconscious 
enough of my generally slovenly appearance to have 
been at all comfortable.” 

“ I think you looked wonderfully well considering 
those aggravating circumstances,” said Aunt Kath- 
erine. “ I know Howe of old, my dear, and if you 
are not already pretty well acquainted with him you 
will find that he is a great tease.” 

“ 1 have learned that already,” Christie responded 
merril3^ 

All through the evening Christie kept mentally 
contrasting this beautiful home with the comfortless 
cabin in which dwelt a King’s daughter just as surely 
as in this tasteful abode, and she wondered what 
Miss Judy would say to all these luxuries of which 
she had never even dreamed if she could be trans- 
planted here. When she nestled upon the downy 
pillows that night, she smiled as she thought of the 
steps she had had to ascend the previous evening to 
reach her hard bed, and she concluded that though 
she had not known it before, she was very fond of 
luxurj^ and comfort. 

The next morning dawned scorching and sultry. 
There was not a breath of Mr in motion and the 
leaves of the trees hung down limp and motionless. 
It was one of those June days that seem to have 


FULFILLED PLANS. 


81 


been misplaced in the calendar, and which rival 
August in sultry discomfort. The very thought of 
breakfast was a burden, and Christie and Howe were 
both glad that they had not planned to spend the 
day in the cars, for it seemed as if the coolest nook 
of Aunt Katherine’s cool house would be scarcely 
endurable. 

“ Oh, it is so hot that I can’t bear to think of 
eating,” sighed Christie, as the breakfast bell rang 
its silvery summons. 

“ When we go to housekeeping we won’t have any 
breakfast in hot weather. We will go and live with 
Aunt Judy,” laughed Howe. 

The evening before a large bowl of glowing Jac- 
queminot roses had decorated the centre of the din- 
ing table, and Christie had admired them so greatly 
that she could scarcely eat. This morning she 
thought of them again as she descended the stairs, 
and she fancied that if anything, they would add to 
the heat of the atmosphere, with their brilliant blaze 
of color. She almost exclaimed aloud in her pleas- 
ure, as her eyes fell upon a slender glass vase in the 
centre of the table, with one pure white geranium 
blossom with its green leaves, making an atmosphere 
of coolness about it. Through the transparent glass 
she could see the slender stems reaching down into 
the water, and there was a daintiness about the choice 
of the flower, its arrangement, and the charming 
contrast between the green of the leaves and tlie 
silvery white of the blossom, that made breakfast a 
6 


82 


Christie's home making. 


possible and desirable thing, and in imagination, at 
least, relieved the atmosphere of the breakfast-room 
of the sultriness that seemed overpowering every 
where else. 

“ Oh, Aunt Katherine, what a charming little 
picture that flower makes ! ” Christie exclaimed, after 
she had greeted her hostess. “I never realized, 
much as I love flowers, what a difference they could 
make in a whole room, and in a mood too,” she 
added. “I was so hot that I felt cross, and just 
looking at that lovely flower has made me feel cool, 
and comparatively speaking comfortable.” 

“It is one of my theories, and Howe has doubtless 
told you that I have a great many,” said Aunt 
Katherine smiling, “ that a flower on the breakfast 
table makes a difference in the whole day. I began 
my married life with the resolution always to have 
flowers on the breakfast table, and I do not remember 
that I have once failed to do so. It is easy to 
arrange for it even in winter, with a little fore- 
thought; and my husband used to say that the little 
blossom that he half unconsciously noticed in its 
j)lace every morning, used to make a fragrant atmos- 
phere for the whole day, and made many a day 
brighter with its silent influence.” 

“ I mean to make that resolution too,” said 
Christie eagerly. “ I love flowers so dearly that it 
will be a perfect delight to me to plan to always be 
supplied with some for this purpose ; and although I 


FULFILLED PLANS. 


83 


never thought about it before,! can see how it could 
make a difference in all the day.” 

“ I am so glad to hear you make that resolution, 
Christie dear,” said Aunt Katherine approvingly. 
“ I don’t think that the smallest thing that helps to 
make home a brighter or happier place can be left 
undone without loss.” 

“I do want to be a good home-maker,” said 
Christie wistfully. “ I wonder whether I shall suc- 
ceed as you and my mother have done. Aunt Kath- 
erine? It rather frightens me to think of undertak- 
ing it when I know so little.” 

“ I am not a bit afraid but that you will succeed,” 
said Aunt Katherine, smiling down into the upturned 
girlish face. “Ah, here comes Howe at last. Howe, 
if I was your wife I should undertake to break up 
your tardy habits the very first thing. You would 
be quite frightened if you knew how I have been 
preparing Christie for your various delinquencies. 
She will see the necessity of being as severe with you 
as I have always had to be.” 

Howe laughed. He knew well that he was a great 
favorite with his aunt. 

“ I have no doubt but that you have been instruct- 
ing Christie how necessary it is to take good care of 
me, and not let me want for anything that she can 
give me in the way of comfort. Honestly, now, 
Aunt Katherine, haven’t you been telling her that it 
would only be a wifely thing and really a duty to 
bring my breakfast up to me in bed every morning? 


84 


Christie's home making. 


Mother always said that I was spoiled for six months 
after I had visited Aunt Katherine, Christie, so you 
can imagine what a stern disciplinarian she is.” 

It was a delightful day tliat the husband and wife 
spent with Aunt Katherine, and Christie was sorry 
wlien evening came and they took the train which 
was to carry them on to Fortress Monroe for a brief 
visit before they should go to their new home. 


PREPARATIONS. 


85 


CHAPTER X. 

PREPARATIONS. 


“ There ! ” 

It was in a conclusive satisfied tone that Mrs. 
Bateman uttered this exclamation, as she sat down 
to rest for a moment after a day of busj^ preparation. 
She quite forgot her weariness as she looked about 
the room and saw the result of her labors, and she 
wondered whether the guests for whom they had been 
prepared would be equally pleased. 

You might have guessed that she had been prepar- 
ing for the reception of a bride, if you had had an 
opportunity to peep into the dainty blue-tinted 
chamber. The walls were a pearl tint, with a wide 
frieze of blue, the ceiling was a pale blue flecked 
with silver, and the draperies over the window and 
mantel were of the same color. The bed and toilet 
appointments were of the snowiest white, and all the 
various ornaments about the room betokened that the 
taste and skill of the mistress of the house had 
chosen their place and arranged them. A vase of 
satiny La France buds stood on the little table by 
the window, as if Mrs. Bateman had guessed at 
Christie’s favorite flower. Through the open door 
you could catch a glimpse into a room no less invit- 


86 


Christie’s home-making. 


ing. This was to be the sitting-room and study for 
the minister and his wife. Well filled book-cases 
lined one side of the wall, and Howe had taken time 
to arrange the volumes in his brief visit before his 
wedding. His desk stood in the middle of the room, 
and light could be thrown upon it from a tall piano 
lamp that stood beside it. Near enough to suggest 
cosiness and companionship was a low rocker, and as 
Mrs. Bateman put it there she smiled at the picture 
that rose in her mind’s eye. She had despoiled the 
rest of the house to make this room as inviting and 
homelike as possible, for she wanted Christie’s first 
impressions of her new home to be as delightful as 
any exertions on her part could make them. 

“ Just like Mrs. Bateman ! ” every one had said, 
when they heard that she had invited the new min- 
ister and his bride to make their home with her till 
they could get settled in a new home of their own. 

‘‘ Nothing could be more delightful for them,” was 
the next remark, as the contrast between being 
inmates of Mrs. Bateman’s tasteful home and board- 
ing in an exceedingly unpretentious boarding-house, 
which was all that the village could boast in the way 
of accommodations, rose before the mind. 

Of course there was the hotel, but neither Howe 
nor Christie was willing to begin their married life 
in such a public way, if any other arrangement could 
possibly be made. 

Dr. Bateman was one of the elders in the church, 
and when Howe was discussing his plans with him, 



Christie's Home-Making. Page 87. 




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PREPARATIONS. 


87 


trying to decide upon the best present arrangements 
for Christie’s comfort, he had said, 

“ The pleasantest way would be for you to board in 
some family until you can get to housekeeping for 
yourselves. The only difficulty would lie in finding 
a pleasant family who would be willing to take 
boarders.” 

Just then the same hospitable thought had risen 
in the mind of both husband and wife, and reading 
an assent to his unspoken thought in his wife’s eyes 
Dr. Bateman had said, 

“ I wonder if we could not make you comfortable 
for a while? What do you think about it, wife ? ” 

“ We could try, and I should be very glad to have 
our friends here with us till they can find a nest in 
which to begin their own home.” 

Howe’s face grew bright. He could not have 
asked anything better than to bring Christie into 
this delightful home- where she would be with friends 
who would be thoroughly congenial and helpful. 
Mrs. Bateman had counted the cost in the brief 
moment in which she had revolved the plan in her 
own mind before her husband had uttered the invi- 
tation, and she had decided that she would gladly 
undertake the extra work and open her home to 
these young people. She had the interests of the 
church and her pastor at heart, and she could not 
help feeling that it would be well for him, in the first 
few months of his pastoral and married life, if he 
could be shielded from the gossip that would natur- 


88 


Christie’s home-making. 


ally be circulated about him if he had to live in the 
comparative publicity of a hotel or boarding-house, 
and her heart had already gone out to Christie since 
Howe had shown her with pardonable pride the 
sweet girlish face. 

It would be very hard for this young girl to come 
from the shelter of her own home and her mother’s 
loving care, and find herself a target for the gossip 
and criticism which would be inevitable; and though 
much of the curiosity might be prompted by kindly 
interest, yet Mrs. Bateman felt that if Christie was 
her daughter she would be very glad to have her 
shielded till she had time to get somewhat adjusted 
to her new relations, both with her husband and his 
charge. 

Warrensville was not any more addicted to gossip 
than any other small town, nor were the people in 
the church especially uncharitable in their remarks ; 
but in the years in which Mrs. Bateman had lived in 
the place she had seen a minister’s wife come to 
Warrensville, and she remembered what lively inter- 
est was manifested in everything that the young couple 
said and did, and how little things that in themselves 
were of no importance were circulated around and 
retailed from one to another, till it seemed as if the 
prevailing subject of conversation everywhere was 
the minister and his wife. She could and would 
shield Christie from this, and though no doubt 
those who wished to talk about them could find 
plenty to stimulate their conversational powers, yet 


PEEPARATIONS. 


89 


their private life should not be made public prop- 
erty. 

Mrs. Bateman never did anything by halves, and 
so she had thrown her whole heart into the prepara- 
tions for Christie’s coming. If she had been looking 
forward to the home-coming of a daughter of lier 
own she could not have done more to make these 
rooms inviting. All was ready now, and she still 
had a couple of hours before the arrival of the ex- 
pected guests in which to supervise the preparations 
for supper and make her toilette. Yet there was one 
more preparation that Mrs. Bateman had to make, 
and it was one that spoke more eloquently of her 
thoughtful love for her pastor and his wife than any 
of the beautiful appointments she had gathered to- 
gether for their happiness. Kneeling beside the low 
rocking-chair, Mrs. Bateman prayed very earnestly 
and lovingly for the two who were to begin in these 
rooms their married life. If Christie’s mother could 
have known of that prayer she would have felt that 
her daughter would have at least one true friend in 
her new home. 

In the quiet city of the dead a little white stone 
marked the sleep of the tiny baby daughter who had 
lived just long enough to bear a name, and nestle 
for a few days in the mother’s arms which were so 
soon to be empty ; and for the sake of that little one 
as well as of Him who loved and blessed little 
children, Mrs. Bateman loved all girls, and was never 
more happy than when they brought their joys and 


90 - 


cheistie’s home-making. 


sorrows to her, as she fancied her own daughter 
would have done. 

Lois would have been twenty years old now, if 
she had lived, just Christie’s age, and perhaps 
it was because of that thought that Mrs. Bate- 
man’s heart went out toward her with peculiar 
motherliness. Her thoughts had been with the 
young bride all day, and she knew how bright every- 
thing must seem to her just now, as she stood upon 
the threshold of her new life. It was too soon for 
her to realize that there could be anything but sun- 
shine awaiting her, and she longed to shelter her 
from every unnecessary pin prick of annoyance. 
Looking back upon the beginning of her own mar- 
ried life, she recalled the roseate hue which tinted 
the future in those first days ; and with the perspec- 
tive of twenty one years, she could see that the ad- 
justment of two lives to run smoothly and without 
friction had not been easily accomplished, nor the 
lessons of mutual forbearance easily learned, and she 
wished that she could help Christie by lending her 
pages from her own experience when the first shad- 
ows should darken the sky that was so radiant now. 

“ I am glad that I shall have her under my wing 
for a little while at all events,” she said to herself, 
as she cast one more satisfied look around the room 
before she left it, to seek the kitchen where the sup- 
per preparations were well under way. 

We will not follow Howe and Christie through 
the two weeks that have passed since we left them at 


PREPARATIONS. 


91 


the beginning of their wedding journey They have 
been days of unalloyed happiness, when they have 
been all-sufficient for each other, and when it mat- 
tered but little where their steps led them so that 
they were side by side. 

It was not strange that Christie shrank a little 
from going to her new home, to meet for the first 
time those who were to be her new friends; and 
when the last day of their pleasant wanderings came 
she would have been glad if they could have gone 
back to Weston where so many tried and true friends 
would have welcomed them. She would not whis- 
per to Howe a word of her reluctance to meet stran- 
gers, for he seemed to look forward eagerly to their set- 
tling down to quiet home life, and to beginning the 
duties of his new charge with his wife by his side. 
Christie was unusually silent during the last hour of 
their journey. She was inclined to self-distrust, and 
now that she was so near her new home she began 
to wonder whether she would be the help to Howe 
that she longed to be, and whether she might not 
disappoint some of his people who might expect so 
much more of their minister’s wife than she could 
ever hope to be or to do. 

She was glad that Howe attributed her silent mood 
to fatigue, and when he had arranged her shawl so 
that she could lean her head against it, and put a 
satchel beneath her feet, he left her to herself to 
rest, while he indulged in bright day-dreams of the 
future, which had never seemed as bright to him as 


92 


Christie’s home-making. 


it did just now with Christie beside him. To con- 
fess the truth Christie was almost homesick when 
the train slackened its speed as it rolled into the 
station, and the conductor called out “Warrensville ! ’’ 

The little confusion of gathering together all their 
traveling paraphernalia and leaving the train, di- 
verted her thoughts from herself, and the cordial 
handshake of Dr. Bateman, who had come to the 
train to meet them, and his pleasant words of greet- 
ing, somewhat dispelled her despondent mood. A 
few minutes’ drive, and the carriage stopped before a 
large house, the outlines of which Christie could but 
faintly trace in the gathering dusk, and she had 
reached her new home. 

The door was thrown open, letting out a flood of 
light, and as Christie went up the steps Mrs Bate- 
man came forward to meet her. She did not wait 
for a formal introduction, but put her motherly arms 
around the girlish figure so loving!}" that all Chris- 
tie’s fears and forebodings vanished at once, and she 
felt as if she was coming into a home where a warm 
welcome was awaiting her. 

A few minutes later the travelers were ushered up- 
stairs to their rooms to remove the dust of their 
journey before the evening meal, and Christie ex- 
claimed in sincere admiration as she looked around 
the beautiful rooms that spoke so eloquently of Mrs. 
Bateman’s cordial hospital it}^ 

“ Welcome home, my wife ! ” exclaimed Howe, as 
soon as they were alone together, holding her closely 


PREPARATIONS. 


93 


to him with the glad realization that she had come 
to stay, and share his life ; and there was no trace of 
longing for other home or friends in the radiant face 
that was upturned toward his. 

Before supper was ended Christie had quite de- 
cided that she should love Mrs. Bateman, and before 
bedtime she knew that she already had won her 
heart. There was a motherliness about her that 
made Christie feel almost as if she was with her own 
mother, and she could not be grateful enough that 
she was to be an inmate of this pleasant home, in- 
stead of being among those who might be uncongen- 
ial and critical. 

“ You were so good to be willing to take us in ! ” 
she said when she bade her hostess good-night ; for 
Mrs. Bateman, considerate of the fatigue of the 
journey and the excitement of meeting strangers, 
proposed retiring at an early hour. '•* I hope we 
shall not be a very great care to you.” 

“ I am sure that it will be a very great pleasure to 
me instead of any care, my dear child,” Mrs. Bate- 
man returned so cordially that Christie could not 
doubt her sincerity. “ I feel as if we should be 
great friends, and I hope we shall have a great many 
pleasant hours together.” 

“ I love her already, mother dear,” Christie wrote 
to her mother that night, for she could not go to bed, 
tired though she was, till she had written a few 
words to tell her mother of her pleasant home-com- 
ing, and the kind friends who had welcomed them so 


94: 


Christie's home-making. 


cordially. “ I feel sure that she will be just the wise 
friend that I need to keep me from making mistakes, 
and will help me to be all that 1 want to be to Howe. 
I am going to be very happy in my new home wdth 
my precious husband and these good friends.” 

Christie’s last waking thoughts were of the pleas- 
ant impressions that lier new home had made, and 
they mingled with her dreams. 


THE BEGINNING. 


95 


CHAPTER XL 

THE BEGINNING. 

The bright June sunshine crept in through the 
partly closed shutters and fell aslant Christie’s pil- 
low, waking her at an early hour the next morning. 
She was glad to have a little time to think while she 
was waiting for the rising-bell that Mrs. Bateman 
had told her would ring in time to give them ample 
leisure for preparation for breakfast. Everything 
before her seemed as bright as the sunlight that 
danced on the wall. She felt as if surely no one had 
ever been as blessed before in husband and home and 
friends, and a silent prayer went up from the depths 
of her heart that she might not be so absorbed by 
the gifts as to forget the Giver. She must guard her 
heart lest this human love which was so sweet and 
satisfying should absorb all her thoughts, and make 
her forgetful of the love which was so infinitely more 
tender and true than the tenderest and truest human 
love, and which had sent her all this great happiness. 

She arose presently, and after making her toilet, 
and donning with a girlish pleasure the dainty blue 
tea-gown that was so becoming, she sat down with 
her Bible and had time for her morning reading and 
prayer before the rising-bell rang. 


OG Christie’s home-making. 

“ What, up and dressed already ? ” exclaimed 
Howe in surprise, as he unclosed a pair of very sleepy 
brown eyes, to see a pretty vision in blue standing 
beside him. “ What sin did you have on your con- 
science that you could not sleep any longer ? or was 
your vanity so great that you were impatient to don 
that becoming gown ? ” 

Christie laughed. 

“ It was too lovely to sleep,” she answered. “ Oh, 
Howe, I see such beautiful roses down in the garden. 
Do you suppose 1 might go down there and look at 
them while you are getting dressed ? I know where 
the door is, so I shall not trouble any one.” 

“ Why, of course you can,” Howe responded, 
drawing her face down to his for a morning kiss. 
“ Mrs. Bateman will be glad to have you make your- 
self at home, and perhaps you will have a little chat 
with her before breakfast. She is one of the love- 
liest people in the church, Christie, and I am so glad 
you can be here with her, for then you won’t be so 
lonely when I have to be out or busy. I’ll be down 
too, directly, unless I should fall asleep again, which 
isn’t likely.” 

Christie easily found her way out into the large 
garden, and making her way to a bush laden with 
the beautiful La France roses which had been in her 
room to bid her welcome, she bent over them so 
absorbed in admiration that she did not hear Mrs. 
Bateman’s steps approaching until her voice roused 
her. 


THE BEGINNING. 


97 


“ Good-morning, Mrs. Stanley. I see you are as 
fond of flowers as I am. I am glad that we are 
beginning to find out mutual tastes already.” 

Christie blushed a little as she returned the salu- 
tation. She was not so used to her new name yet 
that she could hear it without an added tinge of 
color. 

“ Yes, I love rose's dearly,” she answered. “ I am 
very fond of all flowers, but roses are my special 
favorites. These are such beautiful ones.” 

“ That bush is my pride,” replied Mrs. Bateman. 
“ Here is one which blooms very luxuriantly, too ; 
and though its roses are not nearly as perfect, nor 
as large, yet I feel as if it made up for that by the 
profusion and sweetness of its blossoms.” 

They passed from bush to bush, and Mrs. Bate- 
man found that Christie was quite as enthusiastic a 
lover of flowers as she herself was, and when the 
breakfast bell rang they were both surprised that the 
time had passed so quickly. 

As soon as the pleasant morning meal was con- 
cluded, and they had united together in family wor- 
ship, the doctor went into his office, which was a small 
building adjoining the house though detached from 
it, Mrs. Bateman excused herself to attend to her 
household cares, which like those of most house- 
keepers were multiplied on Saturday mornings, Howe 
seated himself at his desk to look over the morrow’s 
sermon, which he had prudently written before he 
was married, and Christie was left to the pleasant' 
7 


98 


Christie's home-making. 


task of unpacking and arranging her belongings, 
and trying to realize that she was not here for a visit 
but that it was her home. 

The day passed very quickly, and the hours were 
so filled with employment that they did not hang 
heavily upon Christie’s hands. 

She dreaded the next day when she should make 
her first appearance at church and meet the people, 
so the time that intervened passed all too quickly. 
She could hardly realize that she had known Mrs. 
Bateman such a little time, for she clung to her as if 
she had been an old friend, and was relieved when 
Mrs. Bateman suggested that she should sit in her 
pew for a few Sundays at least, instead of sitting in 
solitary state in the minister’s pew. 

Sunday dawned fair and beautiful, and when the 
sweet toned bell rang out its summons Christie felt 
a childish desire to hide herself, instead of obejdng 
its call. After she had reached the church however, 
she soon forgot her uncomfortable consciousness of 
self, and enjoyed the service thoroughly. 

It filled her with a quiet joy to listen to her hus- 
band’s voice, and it seemed as if his tones invested 
the familiar words of the opening hymn with a new 
meaning. It was not the first time Christie had 
heard him preach, for he had often filled the pulpit 
in Weston ; but it was the first time she had listened 
to him as her husband, and as her heart swelled 
within her, she thought that there could surely be no 
nobler, grander vocation in the world than to preach 


THE BEGINNING. 


99 


the gospel, and she felt as if she had been called to a 
great honor when she had been asked to share such 
a life. 

All who had ever listened to Mr. Stanley had con- 
ceded that he had unusual talent, and there was 
nothing immature nor young in either his thoughts 
or his delivery ; Christie enjoyed every word that he 
uttered, and felt a wifely pride in the attention with 
which the congregation listened to his sermon. It 
was an inspiration to the young man to glance now 
and then into the sweet earnest face and the uplifted 
eyes of his wife, and he determined that with such a 
helpmeet he would consecrate anew every power of 
mind and body to the work to which he had dedi- 
cated his life. 

In her interest in the service Christie had forgot- 
ten the ordeal which awaited her afterward, but she 
was so cordially welcomed that she did not shrink 
from meeting the people as she had thought she 
would, and they no longer seemed strangers to her, 
but became her husband’s people who would love 
her for his sake, and whom she would love for the 
same reason. 

Her first impressions of the church people could 
hardly have been more favorable, and she would 
have been pleased if she could have known that 
with very few exceptions they were all equally pre- 
possessed with their minister’s bride. Of course 
there were some who made it a point never to be 
satisfied with what the majority liked, and these 


100 CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 

habitual grumblers wondered what the church would 
come to with two such young people at the head of 
it. What could be expected of a minister with no 
experience, especially when his wife was a mere 
school-girl ? They had quite forgotten that they had 
opposed the last minister because he was elderly, 
and they had continually deplored his lack of life 
and progressive ideas. These malcontents were in 
the minority, however, and everyone was too well 
used to their grumbling to pay any heed to it. 

As a rule the young pastor and his wife met with 
a hearty welcome, and even those who had grown 
somewhat indifferent to the interests of the church 
in the two years in which they had been without a 
settled pastor, resolved to put their shoulders to the 
wheel, and aid in every possible way in any project 
that should be undertaken. There was a certain 
glow of enthusiasm that was contagious about the 
young man who was just throwing himself into his 
life work with all his energies, and it seemed as if a 
new page in the history of the church had been 
turned over. 

It was a promising field for labor, for there was 
both room and material for growth, and the mutual 
satisfaction of pastor and people gave promise of har- 
mony and united effort. It was a pleasure to the 
people to listen to their own pastor after the many 
Sundays they had listened either critically or indiffer- 
ently to supplies and candidates; and although the 
habit of criticism was too confirmed to be thrown 


THE BEGINNING. 


101 


aside at once, yet as they listened to the earnest 
words they caught the spirit of the speaker, and 
received the message without stopping to criticise 
the bearer. 

“ I determined not to know anything among you 
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 

That was the text Howe Stanley had chosen for 
his first sermon as the pastor of the church, and surely 
no more fitting words could have been chosen as the 
beginning of a pastorate, especially the pastorate of 
one who was beginning his ministry. That the 
young minister uttered every word from the very 
depths of his heart, none could doubt, and his high 
resolve struck a responsive chord in many a heart. 

“ Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” That was to 
be the keynote of the new life in the church, and 
surely no better watchword could have been chosen. 


102 


Christie's home making. 


CHAPTER XIL 

MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. 

Christie’s first trying experience was to come 
the following afternoon, and as it happened she was 
left entirely alone to meet it. Mr. Stanley had been 
called out to see a sick man, Mrs. Bateman was 
busily engaged in the kitchen and knew nothing of 
the caller who was entertaining Christie in the par- 
lor, or she would have left her preserving in its most 
critical stage and gone in to the rescue. 

Christie was sitting on the front porch, which was 
far enough back from the street to be somewhat re- 
tired, writing the joint letter which she had prom- 
ised to send to her girl friends from her new home, 
when she heard the gate slam and glancing up saw 
that she was about to have company. She tried to 
remember whether the face was one which she should 
recall as having been one of the people she met on 
Sunday, but her memory was treacherous. She had 
met so many strangers that she knew there were but 
a few faces she could remember, and she was not 
sure that she could connect the names with even those 
few faces. Perhaps it was someone to see Mrs. 
Bateman or the doctor, and not anyone that she was 
expected to know. 

“ So you don’t remember me ? ” was the inquiry, 


MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. 103 

as there was no look of recognition in Christie’s 
face when she arose to greet the new comer. 

Christie flushed with embarrassment. 

“I — I am afraid I don’t,” she stammered. 

“ You must try to cultivate your memory or you 
will have all the people down on you. It don’t do 
for a minister’s wife to be so forgetful. I was in- 
troduced to you Sunday morning, one of the very 
first ones, and here you can’t remember that you 
have ever seen me before. My name is Mrs. Bush.” 

Christie was quite sure that she should never for- 
get again, and she tried to apologize to her very 
frank visitor for her remissness upon this occasion. 

“ Oh, it don’t matter as long as it’s me,” said Mrs. 
Bush, ushering herself into the parlor, and picking 
up a fan, which she proceeded to ply vigorously. 
“If it was some of the people, now, you would find 
yourself in hot water. My sakes, how touchy some 
of the church people are, to be sure ! But I needn’t 
tell you, for you will find it out soon enough. Well, 
I am sure I am glad that we’ve got a married minis- 
ter, for then we won’t have one that will be flirting 
around with all the girls. I never saw a girl yet 
that wasn’t ready to jump at a minister, and I sup- 
pose you were just the same way. I can tell you it 
isn’t quite such a fine thing as you think for, when 
you have got all the people to please.” 

“ I can readily believe that,” Christie responded, 
half afraid of her peculiar visitor, and wholly an- 
no3^ed at her bluntness. 


104 Christie’s home-making. 

“ I hope you will tell your husband not to make 
his prayers so long,” went on Mrs. Bush, not in the 
least abashed by Christie’s attempt at dignity. “ I 
think most ministers get the idea somehow that they 
are expected to fill up the time by praying for every- 
thing under the face of the sun. I think it’s a good 
thing for a minister’s wife to know how people feel 
about such things and then she can give her husband 
a hint and save him from making mistakes. I only 
tell you this for his good,” she went on, observing 
at last that Christie’s face was flushed with indig- 
nation. “ There is no use in being touchy over it. 
How do you think you are going to like Warrens- 
ville?” 

Ten minutes ago if Christie had been asked the 
same question, she would have responded, “Very 
much indeed,” but her opinion of her new home had 
materially changed after Mrs. Bush’s remarks, and 
she had begun to feel as if she could never live in a 
place where anyone was at liberty to come and make 
such disagreeable remarks to her merely because she 
was the minister’s wife. 

She tried to keep her temper, and not show her 
annoyance, as she answered, 

“ I have scarcely been here long enough to answer 
that question. I expect to like it, of course.” 

“ Well, you may as well, seeing you have got to 
stay here for a while whether you like it or not. 
Are you a good church worker ? ” 

“ I am generally interested in anything that is 


MAKING ACQUxUNTANCES. 


105 


being done in the church and willing to help as 
much as I can,” Christie responded, wishing that 
this catechism might be terminated in some way, 
as it was becoming altogether too personal to be 
agreeable. 

“ Ministers’ wives ought to be good church work- 
ers, for if they don’t take hold and work with a will 
I don’t know how you can expect much from other 
people. Mr. Brown, that was our last minister, you 
know, had a very useful sort of a wife. She was 
handy and could make herself useful in any way 
that she was wanted to. She was a good leader too, 
and could make a first rate prayer, better than her 
husband, some folks thought. She was the president 
of our sewing society, and she was very good at cut- 
ting out the work and all that sort of thing. She 
didn’t mind finishing up the odds and ends that no 
one else liked to bother with, either. Some folks 
didn’t like her, but I often say we can’t expect to 
get Mrs. Brown’s place filled in a day. There’s 
some folks as are never satisfied with anything, and 
now and then you would hear some one saying that 
she neglected her home by doing so much outside ; 
but land’s sakes, you’ve got to be criticised if you’re 
a minister’s wife, and it might as well be for one 
thing as another, as I used to tell Mrs. Brown, when 
I’d tell her the complaints I’d hear and she’d feel 
kind of discouraged over them. She was awful easy 
discouraged, poor thing.” 

“ I don’t wonder,” was Christie’s thought, but she 


106 Christie's home-making. 

checked its utterance, as her visitor went on, after a 
brief pause for breath. 

“ If you don’t mind, I would like to have a look at 
that basque you wore Sunday. I am going to cut 
one out for my daughter this afternoon, and she said 
she liked that one you had on Sunday better than 
anything she had seen. She didn’t want to go to 
church Sunday morning, but I made her go, and 
she’s glad now she did, for she had been wondering 
for a week what way she would have her new dress 
made. I suppose you wouldn’t mind lending it to 
me for a day or so ? ” 

Christie was so surprised at the request that she 
scarcely knew what to say, but she was really some- 
what afraid of this very outspoken woman, so she 
went meekly up-stairs to get the desired basque, 
hoping that her caller would soon take her leave, 
after she had obtained the object of her call. 

Mrs. Bush was not ready to take her departure 
3^et, however. She looked at the garment, felt the 
material critically with her thumb and forefinger, 
asked the price, and exclaimed, 

“ Why, that was too much to give for a piece of 
goods that’s no better than this. I’m afraid you 
ain’t a very good manager, and that’s a pity, for 
people don’t like to save and scrimp to pa}^ a minis- 
ter’s salary, and then feel that his wife don’t know 
how to take care of it. You’ll learn though, I guess, 
by the time you have had to pinch to make both 
ends meet. I suppose your head was so full of other 


MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. 


107 


things that you didn’t pay much attention to what 
you were about when you were doing your shopping. 
Girls don’t care, if they can only make a show, 
w^hether things are going to wear well or not. I am 
a good hand at shopping, and I always used to go 
with Mrs. Brown when she did her shopping, and I 
used to tell her I made her money go as far again. I 
will make it convenient to go with you, when you 
have to buy anything again.” 

“ Thank you. I do not think I shall have occa- 
sion to trouble you,” said Christie stiffly. 

“ Oh, it won’t be any trouble,” said Mrs. Bush, 
rolling up the basque again, in a way that made 
Christie tremble for the wrinkles that would be in it. 

“ I will fold it up for you, Mrs. Bush,” she said, 
holding out her hand for the carelessly twisted 
package. 

“ You needn’t. It will shake out all right, and I 
have only a little way to go,” Mrs. Bush answered. 
“I suppose you are pretty comfortable here? I 
wonder at Mrs. Bateman taking boarders though. 
It’s such a bother, particularly to take a lady 
boarder. I say I don’t care how many men I board, 
but one woman can make more trouble than ten 
men. What does she charge you?” 

Christie’s face flushed a brighter color than before 
at the impertinence of this question. 

“ That is an arrangement between my husband 
and Mrs. Bateman, and if you want any information 
you had better go to one or the other of them,” she 


108 


Christie’s home-making. 


replied, with a dignity that she hoped would quite 
overpower Mrs. Bush. 

She was mistaken in this hope, however, for no one 
yet had ever been able to disturb that lady’s com- 
placency. 

“ Well, I suppose she didn’t care about having any 
one know, as long as she don’t make a practice of 
taking boarders,” said Mrs. Bush. “ Mrs. Bateman 
is a very nice woman only she sets up to be better 
than the rest of the world. I suppose she tells you 
just how you must do, and lays down the law to 
you. That’s the way with these awful good people, 
they want every one else to be just as strict as they 
are. She’s dreadful close mouthed, too. You can’t 
ever get a word out of her about any one. J like 
folks to be sociable and chatty. Mrs. Brown suited 
me that way. She used to bring her work and come 
over and sit with me of an afternoon. I shall expect 
you to do the same and be real friendly. A minis- 
ter’s wife ought to be social if she wants the people 
to like her. Some folks said Mrs. Brown spent too 
much of her time gadding around, but I didn’t think 
so. She was a mighty nice woman and. I never 
expect to see her equal. If you turn out to be as 
good a worker as Mrs. Brown you needn’t ask for 
anything better. I don’t believe you will, for you 
haven’t the way with you that Mrs. Brown had. You 
could see that she was capable just as soon as you 
spoke to her, but you’re young, and you may grow 
into it after a while. I guess we have done pretty 


MAKING ACQUAINTANCES. 


109 


well getting your husband. Some folks say his 
manner isn’t hardly cheerful enough, and that he was 
awful solemn yesterday ” 

“I would rather be excused from hearing any 
more criticisms upon my husband, Mrs. Bush,” 
Christie interposed, with a little tremble in her voice. 

Could it be possible that any one had criticised the 
manner of the preacher, when that earnest sermon 
had stirred the very depths of her heart, and made 
her feel as she had never felt before what a grand 
and beautiful thing life could be when it is wholly 
consecrated to Christ ! 

She would not, she could not, endure this dreadful 
woman another moment. There was no reason why 
she should submit to her rudeness, and she would 
excuse herself from her visitor, and go up to her 
own room where she could escape from these dis- 
agreeable remarks. 

Fortunately just at this moment the clock struck 
four, and Mrs. Bush rose to her feet. 

“ My sakes ! I had no idea that it was so late. 
Mattie says I never notice how the time goes when 
I get to talking, and I believe it is so. I see you 
don’t like my speaking so plain, but it’s my way and 
you will have to get used to it. I believe in being 
right out with all you have to say and then no one 
can say you talk behind people’s backs. Come over 
and see me soon. Mrs. Bateman will tell you where 
I live, and I shall look for you to be right neighborly 
and run in every day or so. You’ll be a nice compan- 


110 


Christie's home-making. 


ion for my daughter, and I would like her to be real 
intimate with you. I dare say you could teach her 
some little things about painting, for I hear you 
paint, and I like her to learn all she can. Good-bye ! ” 

“Good-bye,” responded Christie, and hardly wait- 
ing for the door to shut behind her visitor, she ran 
up-stairs, and throwing herself upon the bed, with 
her face buried in the pillow, she burst into tears. 

She had always been carefully shielded from con- 
tact with disagreeable people, and except the moth- 
ers of her children in the mission-class, she had 
never had any intercourse with any but refined 
people. These plain people had always been respect- 
ful, and to be talked to as bluntly and familiarly as 
she had been this morning was a new and altogether 
unpleasant experience to Christie. She wondered 
how she could ever endure living in the same town 
with that dreadful Mrs. Bush ; and perhaps there 
were plenty more like her, who would feel at liberty 
to criticise her all they pleased, and what was far 
harder to bear, criticise Howe also. If she could 
only go away from Warrensville, for she could never 
be happy with such people ! 


AN ILXPJLANATION. 


Ill 


CHAPTER XIIL 

AN EXPLANATION. 

MA-RTHA, Mrs. Bateman's cook, happened to be 
out in the yard when Mrs. Bush took her departure, 
and hearing the gate shut with the decision that char- 
acterized all that lady’s movements, she glanced up 
and saw her going down the street. Mrs. Bush was 
not a favorite with Martha, since the day she had 
stopped in passing to tell Martha that she did not 
half sweep the pavement and that if she was her 
help she would set her to doing it over again. 

“ I’d sit with my hands in my lap all the rest of 
my life before I would be your help,” Martha had 
retorted, for she was quite equal to defending her- 
self. 

After this skirmish she had heartily disliked Mrs. 
Bush, and as she had taken a strong liking to Mrs. 
Stanley, who always spoke pleasantly and never 
made any unnecessary trouble, she was quite vexed 
that Mrs. Bateman should not have known of the 
call, and been present to save Mrs. Stanley from the 
disagreeable remarks which she was sure Mrs. Bush 
must have made. 

“ I see Mrs. Bush just going out of the yard,” she 
said when she returned to the kitchen. “ Mrs. Stan- 


112 


Christie's home-making. 


ley will think there’s queer kind of people living in 
this place if Mrs. Bush has been as agreeable as she 
generall}^ is.” 

“ Hush, Martha, you ought not to speak in that 
way,” Mrs. Bateman remonstrated. She was a little 
uneasy however as to what Mrs. Bush might have 
said, and leaving her jelly in Martha’s care, she took 
off her apron, washed her hands, and went up-stairs 
in quest of her new friend. 

The sound of low sobbing came to her ears as she 
reached the top of the stairs, and she did not hesitate 
to enter the room where Christie had thrown herself 
upon the bed and was giving vent to her grief. 

“You poor little girlie !” exclaimed Mrs. Bateman, 
gathering the girlish figure up in her arms as lovingly 
as a mother might have done. “ It was too bad that 
you fell into Mrs. Bush’s hands without any prepa- 
ration.” 

“She was so dreadful!” sobbed Christie. “She 
said Howe’s prayers were too long, and that people 
criticised him yesterday, and then she said that I 
must ” 

Christie’s voice was choked with tears again. 

“ I can just imagine all the rest of it, dearie,” said 
Mrs. Bateman. “She told you all about Mrs. 
Brown’s virtues, and I assure you it would have been 
a great comfort to poor Mrs. Brown to know that she 
had any, for she never had any reason to think that 
Mrs. Bush approved of anything she did while she 
was here; and I suppose she told you all that was 


AN EXPLANATION. 


113 


expected of ministers’ wives; but you mustn’t mind 
anything that Mrs. Bush says.” 

“ I think she is the most perfectly dreadful, rude 
woman I ever met in all my life,” exclaimed Christie 
indignantly. “I can never like her, and I know 
Howe cannot when I tell him what she said about 
him.” 

“ I don’t wonder you feel so, knowing only what 
you do of her, but I want to tell you a little about 
the good qualties that you will have to find out by 
degrees. Mrs. Bush reminds me of nothing so much 
as a chestnut burr, all sharp prickles on the outside, 
but with real solid goodness hidden away beneath. 
To be sure you have to run the risk of hurting your 
hands if you try to get at the nuts, but you will be 
repaid for the slight scratches. She is one of the 
most kindhearted people that ever lived, and will do 
anything for a person in trouble. To be sure she has 
blunt ways, and will say unpleasant things that make 
you forget her real goodness in annoyance at her 
rudeness; but if one knows that there is genuine 
kindness hidden away beneath her sharp remarks, it 
isn’t quite so hard to think kindly of her, is it? She 
does not mean to hurt people b}^ her outspoken ways, 
and I think she rather prides herself upon the inde- 
pendence that leads her to say whatever she thinks. 
She is not a member of the church, though she is a 
regular attendant upon the services, but there is no 
one who is more generous and more ready to work 
than she is. I know just how she has tried you this 
8 


114 Christie's home-making. 

afternoon, dear, but I want to convince you that 
there is another side which you have not seen. She 
is not at all sensitive herself, and so she cannot 
understand why her plain comments should hurt any 
one else’s feelings, and what seems like unkindness 
in her is only thoughtlessness. I could tell you of 
ever so many kind things that she has done that I 
have only heard of by accident through the doctor. 
You will respect her in spite of her trying ways 
when you know her as well as I do, and I wish you 
could feel like forgetting all the disagreeable things 
she has said this afternoon, and like her a little now.” 

Christie shook her head. 

“ I don’t see how I can ever like such a blunt 
coarse woman,” she said presently. “If she had not 
criticised Howe I might have forgotten the things 
she said to me, but I can’t helx3 wishing that I might 
never see her again.” 

Mrs. Bateman stroked the fair disordered hair in 
silence for a few moments. 

“Yet I have no doubt she would valiantly stand 
up for your husband if she heard any one else criti- 
cising him. She is one of the warmest admirers 
your husband has, though I know the last thing she 
would be apt to tell you would be how much she 
liked him, and I am very hopeful that he may influ- 
ence her where every one else has failed. She will 
make a very earnest whole-hearted Christian when 
she is once brought to the decision ; and when her 
quick tongue is bridled by the charity that ‘ suffer- 


AN EXPLANATION. 


115 


eth long and is kind,’ and only the best of her nature 
asserts itself, she will be a very lovable character. 
Don’t shed any more tears over her, dear, and let me 
tell you for your comfort that there is not any one 
else like her in Warrens ville. I know you will be a 
brave little woman, and for the sake of the good 
your husband may be able to do her you will bear 
with her brusque ways and trying speeches. Look 
upon her only as a precious soul that is well worth 
saving, and be patient with her. Will you let me 
give you a little bit of advice, dear, that I would 
give my own daughter if I had her here in my arms 
instead of you? ” 

“ Yes, indeed,” said Christie. 

“ I think I would not tell my husband, if I were 
you, how badly Mrs. Bush made you feel this after- 
noon. He will naturally feel somewhat resentful to- 
ward her for having hurt and wounded you, and 
she will be very quick to notice any change in his 
manner. He will have enough to test his patience 
on his own account, and while he will try to look 
over things that only concern him, yet he would find 
it hard to forget that she had brought tears to your 
eyes. I am so sure that she did it unintentionally 
that you see I feel like pleading for her. She has 
no friends, in spite of her many good qualities, for 
she estranges them all by her hasty tongue, so she is 
really to be pitied. I do not mean that you must 
submit quietly to any really impertinent questions 
or criticisms. If you tell her that you do not wish 


116 


Christie's home-making. 


to answer such questions or hear such criticisms, she 
will not repeat them, nor will she take offense at 
what you say. I only want to urge you not to say 
anything that will prejudice your husband against 
her. The criticisms that she made were entirely un- 
necessary, and it would only hurt him to hear them, 
and make him feel as if he were being criticised 
when he had every reason to suppose that the peo- 
ple were in full sympathy with him. I do not mean 
that you should say nothing about her visit, but 
don’t tell him in such a way that he will feel embit- 
tered against Mrs. Bush. There is a humorous side 
to your experience with her, I think, if you look 
only for that.” 

Christie smiled through her tears. 

“ I do think her whole visit was as funny as any* 
thing I ever read of in a book, but indeed it wasn’t 
very pleasant.” 

“ I know that, my dear child. As well as I am ac- 
quainted with Mrs. Bush I find her remarks very 
hard to bear sometimes, and you have my heartiest 
sympathy. I do want to have your husband feel as 
kindly as possible toward her, though. Don’t you 
think it will be the best way only to let him see the 
funny side? You know she is one of his people, 
and with all her peculiarities she is a loyal helper 
and friend to her pastor.” 

“ I don’t feel so badly about it now,” Christie am 
swered. “ I won’t tell Howe that she made me cry, 
for I know it would vex him, and very likely he would 


AN EXPLANATION. 


117 


tell her not to talk to me that way again ; and if she 
really did not mean it to be disagreeable of course she 
would feel hurt, and I can see how it would make a 
very uncomfortable feeling. I will make him laugh 
over it though, for it was funny. I began to feel 
quite discouraged when I heard all of Mrs. Brown’s 
excellencies, and found out all that I was expected 
to be and to do as the minister’s wife and the leader 
in parish work.” 

“ Tlie old adage that ‘ blessings brighten as they 
take their flight’ will account for a good deal of 
what Mrs. Bush said,” remarked Mrs. Bateman, 
laughingly. “ She has forgotten all the lectures that 
she felt called upon to give Mrs. Brown every now 
and then, and I believe she really thinks that they 
were quite intimate friends. You will find her quite 
a character, as you come to know her better. I wish 
for her own sake that she would not hide her real 
goodness of heart under such a rough exterior, for 
she does not do herself justice, nor will she let other 
people think of her as she deserves.” 

“I will try to make myself look a little less for- 
lorn before Howe comes in,” said Christie, rising and 
looking at her tear-stained face in the glass. “ Do 
you know I don’t feel a bit badly about it any more, 
but indeed when you came in I was wishing with all 
my heart that I could go home. You were so kind 
to comfort me I I will try not to mind anything 
like that so much next time. She rather fright- 
ened me, she was so very decided in her opinions. 


118 


Christie's home-making. 


and seemed so despondent about my capabilities as a 
minister’s wife.” 

Christie could laugh now over the call that had 
seemed so formidable at first, and before Mrs. Bate- 
man went back to her jelly all the traces of tears 
were gone. The letter she had been writing was en- 
riched by a merry account of the interruption, and 
when Howe came in and learned of her visitor, he 
had no idea that a shower had followed her depart- 
ure. 

Mrs. Bateman had been very wise in suggesting 
to Christie not to complain of Mrs. Bush’s brusque- 
ness, for Howe would have been inclined to resent 
it, and Mrs. Bush would havo promptly vindicated 
her rights of free speech by severing her connection 
with the congregation. Those who knew how much 
good material was hidden beneath that unprepossess- 
ing exterior were anxious that the slight bond of 
interest that held her to the church should be 
strengthened rather than loosened until she should 
be caught and held fast in the chains of love. There 
was material there for a grand Christian, one who 
would be fearless in standing up for her principles 
and upholding the right, and such material was too 
rare to be lightly discarded because of its defects. 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


119 


CHAPTER XIV. 

OPENING NEW PATHS. 

The first few weeks slipped away very pleasantly 
and quickl3% while Christie was fitting herself into 
her new niche. It was a great delight to her to feel 
that Howe could work better for having her inter- 
est and sympathy in everything that he did; and 
Sunday evenings, when he was tired after his day’s 
work and apt to be discouraged over his failures 
to come up to the high ideal he had set for himself, 
she enjoyed talking over the day with him, and prais- 
ing with a wife’s loving partiality all that had been 
most helpful in his words. 

In the morning, after the two rooms had been put 
in the dainty order which characterized all Christie’s 
belongings, she would take her work and sit quietly 
beside him in the little rocking-chair, where when- 
ever he glanced up he could see the fair head bent 
over her sewing. She had time now to take a great 
many stitches on the various articles that would be 
needed when their home-making began, and it was 
pleasant to have their nesting to look forward to, for 
happy as they were beneath Mrs. Bateman’s hospit- 
able roof, yet they both longed for a home of their 
own. 


120 


Christie’s home-making. 


It seemed like rather a selfish life to Christie, for 
she had been so used to taking an active part in the 
church work that she missed her class and the many 
other duties that she had made her own. It so hap- 
pened that there was no special need of her services 
in the Sunday-school nor in the missionary meet- 
ing. Her attendance was all that was desired, and 
accustomed as she was to feeling some responsibility, 
she sometimes thought almost regretfully of the 
threads she had dropped in her old home when she 
came here. 

A willing worker, however, never has to wait very 
long for employment, and some work soon came to 
her hands. One Sunday the young girl who usually 
assisted the teacher of the infant-class by keeping 
the little ones in order, was absent, and Christie was 
asked if she would assist with the children. 

She was very fond of little ones, and she willingly 
consented. 

“ It’s such a dreadful class to teach,” sighed Miss 
Nelson, the teacher, as she sat beside Christie during 
the opening exercises. “ I get enough of the chil- 
dren when I am teaching them, so I don’t sit with 
them this part of the time. I couldn’t keep so many 
of them in order any way, and I just let them scat- 
ter around and do the best they can. They most all 
of them sit with their older sisters, so they get kept 
in order that way. They are such a stupid set of 
children, and they never seem to learn anything, no 
matter how hard I try to teach them. Thank good- 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


121 


ness, I only have two more Sundays to be with them, 
for Mr. Moore has promised to give me another class 
then, and get some one else for the infant-class. 
You will see to-day what a discouraging class it is.” 

Christie was somewhat embarrassed by the stream 
of whispered comments that her companion kept up 
all through the opening exercises. She did not an- 
swer except when it was absolutely necessary, and 
showed as plainly as she could that she wished to 
listen to the reading and join in the singing ; but 
the loquacious young lady kept on talking even with- 
out the encouragement of a response. At last Chris- 
tie felt constrained to say, 

“ Don’t you think we had better join in the re- 
sponses? We are setting a bad example to the chil- 
dren, I am afraid.” 

It was quite an effort for Christie to utter even 
this gentle rebuke, for she did not like to seem to 
censure any one, but Miss Nelson was evidently not 
at all hurt by the suggestion. 

‘‘ Oh, I suppose a minister’s wife always has to act 
just so,” she said laughingly. “ I forgot that. Well, 
we shall have some time for talking after the lesson 
is done. I never can find enough to talk about to 
fill up the time.” 

When the exercises were concluded, and the classes 
began to study the lesson, the little ones flocked 
into a place behind the library which was evidently 
used partly for a lumber as well as for an infant-class- 
room. It was not an inviting room, and this hot 


122 


Christie's home-making. 


September afternoon it seemed insupportably hot and 
close. 

“ I do wish the sexton would remember to open this 
window Sunday mornings,” said Miss Nelson petu- 
lantly. “ It is hot enough to melt one in here, and 
the children behave twice as badly when it is too hot. 
Sit down, children, and I will try to get this window 
open.” 

It yielded to her vigorous efforts, and a refreshing 
breath of air came in with the bright ra3’s of the sun 
which were not shut out in any way, for the room 
had no blinds or screens. 

Christie sighed for the class-room at Weston as she 
had time to glance about this room while Miss Nel- 
son was taking off her gloves and preparing for her 
work. Not many Sunday-schools were better equip- 
ped in the matter of an infant-class-room than the 
Sunday-school at Weston. It was a well aired, 
sunshiny room, with the leafy boughs of an old 
elm which grew just outside the window shutting 
out the summer’s heat, while plenty of sunshine 
came through the bare branches in winter. A cheery 
crimson carpet in winter, and cool matting in summer, 
covered the floor, and rows of dear little chairs, low 
enough for the feet of the little occupants to rest on 
the floor, were the seats. There was a blackboard, 
a small organ, a table for the teacher’s use, and a 
vase upon it which was always kept supplied with 
flowers. The teacher was always chosen from the best 
talent the school afforded, and it was looked upon as a 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


123 


very responsible and honorable post, neediug carefid 
preparation. 

A greater contrast could hardly have been pre- 
sented than was offered by the class and its teacher 
now introduced to her. The room showed that no 
effort had been expended to make it inviting or even 
neat. The bare floor was dusty, and the children 
with much climbing and pushing had seated them- 
selves upon high benches from which their feet 
dangled in a most uncomfortable way. The smaller 
cliildren looked as if they were in imminent danger 
of toppling over backward as they twisted about 
restlessly, and the older ones balanced on the front 
of the benches and rested the tips of their toes on 
the floor for support. 

There was no blackboard nor any other appurte- 
nance for making the lesson interesting, and it was 
very evident from Miss Nelson’s first remark that 
she had not done anything in the way of preparation. 

“ Do you know where the lesson is ? ” she asked 
Christie, taking up her Bible. “I forgot to bring 
my lesson help, and I don’t like to ask Mr. Moore 
for another, I have asked him so many times already 
this quarter.” 

It seemed almost incredible to Christie, who was 
accustomed from her earliest childhood to spend 
some time each day on the preparation of the lesson 
for Sunday, that any one, and especially a teacher, 
should have come to Sunday-school actually ignorant 
of the whereabouts of the lesson. She gave the 


124 


Christie's home-making. 


desired iu formation, trying to keep her surprise out 
of her face and voice. Evidently it was not an un- 
usual occurrence, for Miss Nelson did not seem to be 
at all embarrassed by it, nor consider that it needed 
any apology. 

As she was finding her place, a little boy slipped 
off his seat and came shyly up to her. 

“ Here, teacher,” he said, putting a bunch of droop- 
ing flowers on her lap. 

He had been clasping them tightly in his fat hot 
hand all through the preliminary exercises, and they 
looked sadly wilted. It looked like a bouquet that 
the child had made himself, for the stems were tied 
together with a thick piece of twine, and the flowers 
were massed together in a firm ball. There was not 
anything inviting about the gift, but the shy smile 
and the admiring look in the dark eyes were very 
attractive to Christie, who was a child lover. 

“ Oh, don’t put them there ; lay them on that 
chair,” exclaimed Miss Nelson, shaking out the folds 
of her pretty summer dress. “ They are always 
bringing something like that,” she went on to Chris- 
tie, in an audible aside that all the children could 
easily hear. “ I don’t know what to do with them I am 
sure, for they aren’t fit for anything by the time the 
children carry them around for an hour or two, if 
indeed tliey were pretty to begin with. They used 
to expect to hang around me and hug and kiss me, 
but I soon broke that up. It does spoil one’s clothes 
so to have children pulling on one.” 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


125 


There was a disappointed look in the child’s 
dark eyes that appealed strongly to Christie’s warm 
heart. 

“ May I have one or two of yonr flowers ? ” she 
asked, and as Miss Nelson assented in a surprised 
tone, she took a little cluster of the wilted blossoms 
and pinned them on her dress with a pleasant smile 
at the child, who flashed hack such a radiant glance 
as he saw that his little gift was appreciated by some 
one, that Christie was assured that she had comforted 
him for his disappointment witli his teacher. 

“ Now, who remembers the golden text for last 
Sunday ? ” asked Miss Nelson. 

There was no response and she repeated her in- 
quiry. 

“ Now, you don’t mean to say you have all for* 
gotten it, after all the times we went over it I I am 
ashamed to have Mrs. Stanley know what, a stupid 
class I have.” 

“ Start it for us, teacher, and maybe we’ll remem- 
ber it,” said one of the oldest girls, who evidently 
wished to save the reputation of the class. 

This was an unexpected request, and Miss Nelson 
actually looked embarrassed. 

She turned toward Christie with a deprecating 
smile. 

“ Would you believe I’ve actually forgotten it 
myself? ” she said. “ I thought I remembered it, but 
it has slipped out of my head somehow. It’s so pro- 
voking to forget anything like that. I expect you 


126 


Christie's home making. 


will think I am a pretty poor teacher by the time I 
forget a few more things. Will you prompt me, if 
you remember it, please ? ” 

As soon as Christie uttered the first few words she 
recalled the whole verse, and turned toward the 
children, bidding them repeat it too. Only a few of 
them knew it, and for a few minutes Miss Nelson 
concentrated all her energies on making the whole 
class, including the very youngest ones, repeat it 
again and again, until they could say it after a 
fashion. 

“ Now I shall ask you to say it next Sunday, and 
I shall not like it at all if you forget it. It’s very 
naughty to forget your golden texts just as soon as 
you learn them.” 

“You forgot it yourself, teacher,” said the child 
who had asked to be prompted. 

“ Well, it’s a very different thing if I forget, 
because I have a great many other things to think 
about, and I can’t remember everything, but you 
ought to.” 

This seemed a conclusive argument to Miss Nel- 
son, and apparently it satisfied the children, for they 
said no more. 

“ Listen, now, and I will read over the lesson for 
to-day, and then I will ask you questions, and you 
can see how much you remember of it,” said Miss 
Nelson, and she read over the verses, without any 
comment or explanation. It was not an easy lesson, 
nor one that was particularly adapted to childish 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


127 


comprehensions, and without any attempt at simpli- 
fying the difficulties, Christie was not surprised that 
the children could not respond to any of the ques- 
tions that the teacher asked. 

“ Now you see how little attention they pay to the 
lesson, Mrs. Stanley,” exclaimed Miss Nelson. 

Christie saw also that the teacher had no idea of 
making the lesson intelligible, and she wondered 
how the children could ever learn anything with 
such an incapable instructor. 

“Howard, stop squeaking your shoes; you make 
my blood run cold,” said Miss Nelson sharply, to a 
small boy who was amusing himself by noisily 
squeaking his new shoes, with evident pride in the 
noise they made. 

Howard obeyed promptly, and twisted himself 
upon the bench again where his feet would be out of 
temptation’s way. 

“ Did you bring your pennies ? ” asked Miss Nelson, 
who had evidently concluded the lesson for the day. 

Several small hands were waved about in the air, 
and Miss Nelson smiled approvingly. 

“ Johnnie Watson, you may take the pennies up 
in your hat.” 

“ Oh, ^teacher ! ” wailed a little boy on the back 
seat. “ You said T might this Sunday. You truly 
did. First you let Willie Davis, and then last Sun- 
day it was Bertie Dunn’s turn, and you said I should 
take the pennies to-day. Can’t I ? ” 

“No, she just said I could,” persisted Johnnie, 


128 


Christie’s home-making. 


beginning to collect the money, regardless of all 
protests. 

“ No, she said I could; she said so last week, and it 
isn’t fair, so ! ” 

“ Miss Nelson, can’t I ? ” 

“ Miss Nelson, let me ! ” 

“ Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves ? ” asked Miss 
Nelson severely, as the dispute grew warm. “ What 
do you suppose Mrs. Stanley will think of such bad 
boys ? I declare I am mortified to have you behave 
so. What difference does it make, Ned, who takes 
up the pennies? Let Johnnie do it, now he has 
begun, and you can do it another Sunday.” 

“No, I can’t, for you won’t remember. It will be 
just like it was this Sunday,” protested Ned indig- 
nantly. “ I think you are mean ! ” 

“You are a very naughty boy to talk so rudely to 
your teacher. Come out here, and stand on the 
floor where all the children can see you. I shall tell 
your mamma when I see her just how you behave in 
Sunday-school,” said Miss Nelson severely. 

Ned sullenly obeyed, digging his chubby fists in 
his eyes to rub away the tears that would come at 
his disgrace. With a child’s keen sense of injustice 
he knew that he had been wronged, and his little 
heart was filled with bitterness. Christie’s sympa- 
thies were wholly with the little culprit, and as he 
stood on the floor facing the class her heart ached 
for him. She motioned to him to come to her, and 
slipped her arm about him. The sullen frown that 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 


129 


had disfigured his face vanished, and he was quite 
happy, in spite of his disappointment and punish- 
ment, as he stood by his new friend. Miss Nelson 
was distributing the little Sunday-school papers, 
and counting the pennies, so Christie had a chance 
to talk to the little fellow without being overheard 
by the rest of the class. Without criticising his 
teacher, she made him feel that she sympathized with 
him in his disappointment, which, trifling as it might 
seem to a grown person, was, she knew, a very 
different thing to a child, and then she led him to 
see that he ought to tell Miss Nelson that he was 
sorry for having spoken so rudely to her. It was 
not very easy to convince him that he ought to be 
sorry for his angry words, but she succeeded at last, 
and he promised that he would tell Miss Nelson so 
after Sunday-school. 

“ I like you,” he said, looking up into Christie’s 
face with his frank blue eyes. “ 1 wish you were 
our teacher.” 

Christie wished so too, with all her heart. She 
had never considered that she was fit to take as 
important a class as the infant-class, but she was 
sure that she would make the attempt, at least, to 
interest and teach the little ones committed to her 
care. 

By the time Miss Nelson had read the children a 
little story in their illustrated paper, and gone over 
the golden text with them, the bell rang and with a 
sigh of relief she dismissed them. 

9 


130 


Christie's home making. 


“ Oh, is Ned bothering you ? ” she asked, as she 
turned around and saw the little boy leaning against 
Christie. 

“No, indeed,” said Christie quickly, as she saw 
the sullen look coming back to the childish face. “ I 
called him to me. I think Ned has something to say 
to you. Miss Nelson.” 

Straightening himself up, Ned said bravely, 

“ I’m sorry I said you was mean, teacher.” 

“ You ought to be sorry, for you were a very 
naughty little boy,” said Miss Nelson, evidently think- 
ing that a lecture on his sins was the proper thing to 
bestow upon the boy. “ I hope you will never be so 
naughty again, for no one can like you when you are 
not good. Now here is your paper. Run along, and 
don’t bother Mrs. Stanley any more.” 

“ That was right, dear,’^ said Christie, drawing the 
child close to her and kissing the downcast face 
before he left her. 

Miss Nelson looked amazed. 

“ Do you like children ? ” she asked. “ I can’t 
bear them, the tiresome little things ! I don’t have 
any patience with them, and I suppose that is the 
reason I don’t get along with them better.” 

“ I love them dearly,” Christie answered, “ and I 
think you have some dear little children in your 
class.” 

“ Would you be willing to take that class ? ” asked 
Miss Nelson eagerly. “ Oh, I should be so glad if 
you would, for I do hate to teach it so ! I declare I 


OPENING NEW PATHS. 131 

don’t like to see Sunday come, just on that account. 
Do say you will ! ” 

Her earnestness left no room for doubt that she 
was sincere in her wish to be relieved of the class, 
and Christie replied, 

“ I should have no objection to taking the class of 
course, if the superintendent is willing, but it must 
rest with him.” 

“ I am sure he will only be too glad,” said Miss 
Nelson, and as they entered the main room just then 
and passed near the superintendent, she exclaimed, 

“ Oh, Mr. Moore, I know you will be as glad as I 
am to hear that Mrs. Stanley is willing to take the 
infaTit-class. She just told me she would if you 
were willing.” 

“I am very glad to hear it indeed,” said Mr. 
Moore, with a pleased look. “ Miss Nelson has found 
it such an irksome class that I have been trying to 
relieve her of it for some time, but could not find 
any one willing to take such a difficult class. Thank 
you, Mrs. Stanley. I shall be pleased to have you 
assume your new charge next Sunday, if that will 
suit Miss Nelson also.” 

“ The sooner the better as far as I am concerned,” 
answered that young lady. “I suppose the children 
will be as glad to get rid of me as I am to get rid of 
them, so it will be a mutual pleasure.” 

Thus opened Christie’s first path of usefulness in 
her new field. 


132 


Christie’s home-making. 


CHAPTER XV. 

WORK. 

Christie would have felt as if it was a very for- 
midable undertaking to assume the charge of the 
infant-class in Weston after the very capable and 
conscientious teacher who had devoted her best 
energies to it for years, but she was not at all afraid 
but that she could improve upon her predecessor 
here. 

To begin with, she loved children and tried to 
understand them, and had the patience which is one 
of the prime requisites for a successful teacher. She 
was accustomed to make a careful and thorough prep- 
aration of the lesson, and she knew, too, how very 
important it was that the room should be made 
cheery and inviting, so that the children would have 
pleasant associations with their Sunday’s lesson. 
That very Sunday evening she began her prepara- 
tion by talking the lesson for the following Sunday 
over with Howe, after she had given him an account 
of the methods of the teacher who had had the class. 
Every day she spent half an hour in thought and 
reading, and she was always on the watch for any 
little incident that would serve as a practical illus- 
tration to impress the meaning of the lesson upon 
the minds and hearts of the children. 


WORK. 


133 


Friday afternoon she procured the keys of the 
church, and accompanied by her husband went over 
to see what she could do in the way of making the 
room more attractive. She had asked Mr. Moore if 
she might make some little changes in the room, and 
he had given her cordial permission to do anything 
she liked in the matter. 

“ Our infant-class has never been much of a suc- 
cess, and I should be glad to have some one take it 
who took some interest in it and knew how to teach. 
I know some teachers like a blackboard. If you 
would care to have one, I have one at my house that 
I will send over for you, and if there is anything else 
that you would like, I will do all I can to get you 
what you need. Things are not in very good trim 
in that room, but I am in hopes that some day we 
can build a little room on purpose for the infant-class 
and fit it up nicely.” 

“ I shall be delighted to have the blackboai d,” said 
Christie, who had been secretly wondering how she 
could teach the little ones without one. “ Perhaps 
I can do something myself to fit the room up before 
Sunday.” 

When she went to the church on Friday she found 
that Mr. Moore had been as good as his word, and 
had already sent the blackboard, with a box of 
colored crayons. The room needed sweeping as 
much as anything else, and tucking up her dress, 
Christie found a broom in the closet under the stairs 


134 Christie’s iiome-imaking. 

among the sexton’s utensils and proceeded to give 
the room a better cleaning than it had had for years. 

She sent a little note to Mrs. Bateman by Howe, 
whom she speedily routed when the dust began to 
fly, asking if she could spare Martha to bring over 
a pail of water and some cloths to wash the windows. 

“ I just want to try a little house-cleaning on my 
own account,” she wrote. “ T won’t keep Martha^ 
if she may just bring over the things for me. I am 
afraid it would excite too much curiosity to have 
Mr. Stanley carry them.” 

By the time the dust had subsided, Martha made 
her appearance armed with everything necessary for 
washing the windows, and insisted upon staying, 
notwithstanding all Christie’s remonstrances. 

“ Mrs. Bateman won't want me for anything and 
I might just as well stay as not,” persisted Martha. 
“ It won’t take me any time to wash that window, 
and it’s my afternoon out anyway, so it’s no matter 
what I do. I haven’t anything to do at home, and I 
would rather do this than not.” 

Finding that Martha was quite determined to have 
her own way in the matter, Christie yielded, and 
while Martha was making the dull dust-coated glass 
shine beneath her strong hands, Christie and her 
husband spent their united efforts upon the black- 
board, drawing an illustration for the lesson. They 
were neither of them especially gifted in drawing, 
but their work presented a very creditable appear- 


WOKK. 


135 


ance when it was finished, and Christie was sure that 
her young audience would not be very critical. 

“ If we could only have low seats, so that the poor 
little things would not have to sit with their feet 
dangling,” said Christie. “ I suppose when Mr. 
Moore made his kind ofier of trying to supply me 
with anything that I needed, he did not anticipate 
that I would ask for anything as great as new seats. 
I really don’t see how the children can behave well 
nor how they can listen when they are as uncomfort- 
able as they must be with these hard high benches. 
Oh, Howe, couldn’t we possibly contrive something 
better than this in the way of seats?” 

Mr. Stanley looked at the benches thoughtfully 
for some moments. “ I don’t see what is to be done 
except to buy new ones,” he remarked at last. “ And 
I am sure that couldn’t be done for a time. I am 
sorry, Christie dear, both for you and the children.” 

“We haven’t enough in our ‘tenth box’?” asked 
Christie. 

Both husband and wife had always laid aside a 
tenth for charitable purposes, and one of the first acts 
of their married life had been to lay aside a tenth of 
the salary, that they might have opportunity to 
indulge themselves in the luxury of giving when- 
ever the call for benevolence came. 

The sum thus laid aside was not a very large one, 
and even as Christie asked the question she knew 
that it could not possibly be enough to compass her 
wishes. 


136 


Christie's home-making. 


“No, dear, the money we have would only go a 
very little way in seats, so I am afraid there is noth- 
ing to do but to wait.” 

Christie was lost in thought for a few moments, 
and then a sudden inspiration seized her, and she 
exclaimed, 

“ Oh, I have thought of the simplest way in the 
world to remedy the difficulty. When I tell you 
what it is you will wonder that we did not both think 
of it at once.” 

“What is it?” asked her husband. “I cannot 
imagine what bright idea you have conceived. I 
must confess I think nothing but new seats can solve 
the trouble.” 

“ If Mr. Moore is willing, Ave might saw the legs 
of tliese benches off to just the right height for the 
children,” said Christie. “ Now, isn’t that a simple 
solution ? Of course it won’t be half or three quar- 
ters as nice as having little chairs or new benches, 
but it Avill certainly make these comfortable, which, 
after all, is the main thing. I don't believe Mr. 
Moore would object. We might go and ask him 
now, and if he is willing, we could find a carpenter 
to do it this very afternoon, and have them all ready 
for Sunday.” 

“I think I am carpenter enough to do that,” said 
Howe. “I see Mr. Moore crossing the street now. 
I Avill go over and ask him.” 

As Christie had anticipated, Mr. Moore was per- 
fectly Avilling to consent to the proposed plan, and 


WORK. 


187 


volunteered to bring a couple of saws and help Mr. 
Stanley in the task. 

He soon came back accompanied by two small 
cliildren. 

“ I thought I would bring these two along to 
measure the seats by, and see when we got them 
a comfortable height for the little ones,” he ex- 
plained. 

In a very short time one bench had been reduced 
to a height which enabled the children’s feet to rest 
comfortably on the floor, and they were dismissed 
while Mr. Stanley and Mr. Moore went on with their 
work. Christie had made a pilgrimage to the cellar 
to put away the broom in the meantime, and while 
she was down there she saw among some other things 
a roll of pieces of red carpet which had been left 
over the last time the pulpit had been re-carpeted. 
Before she reached the room which had been tem- 
porarily converted into a carpenter’s shop, an idea 
had occurred to her, which she promptly proceeded 
to disclose. The benches were so well worn and 
defaced by penknives that they were anything but 
objects of beauty. If they were covered with this 
red carpet, neatly tacked on, they would be not only 
more sightly, but more comfortable also. 

Both the gentlemen agreed with her plan, and 
while they finished their part of the work, Christie 
insisted upon being allowed to tack the carpet on 
as her share of the improvements. 

Supper-time approached before the work was com- 


138 


Christie's home-making. 


pleted, and Christie reluctantly had to surrender 
her hammer and leave her task 

“ The room looks very much better already, 
doesn’t it?” she asked, as she turned for one fare- 
well survey. 

It certainly does,” said Howe warmly. 

“ The little folks won’t know what to make of it,” 
said Mr. Moore, who was very much pleased at the 
interest Christie was taking in her new class. “ I 
shall listen to hear what my little grandchildren 
have to say about their new teacher next Sunday.” 

It did not take very long the following morning 
to finish covering the little benches, and they really 
looked very pretty and inviting, compared with the 
old seats. One piece of the carpet about two yards 
long Christie had spread down in front of the seats, 
and she had found a little stand which was some- 
times used to hold flowers in the church, and tem- 
porarily appropriated it to her use. She determined 
that a vase of the prettiest flowers she could find 
should be upon the table on Sunday, and she was 
sure that the children would appreciate the improved 
appearance of the room. The sun would be some- 
what excluded too, for Mr. Moore had offered, when 
his attention was called to the shadeless window, to 
put up a shade before Sunday. 

“ I ought to have paid attention to these things 
before,” he said apologetically. “ It’s too bad that I 
have been so slack about things ; but nobody seemed to 
care, and so I just got in the way of letting things go.'’ 


WORK. 


139 


Christie was quite impatient for Sunday to come 
that she might see the little ones’ pleasure, and her 
heart went out to the children who were to be her 
special charge. She was glad to see the look of 
pleasure on the little faces when Mr. Moore an- 
nounced in Sunday-school that Mrs. Stanley would 
take charge of the infant -class, and her little friend 
of the preceding Sunday, Ned Lewis, came over and 
sat by her during the opening exercises with a grat- 
ified air of proprietorship that was very amusing to 
see. 

That first hour with their new teacher was a very 
delightful one to the children, who, young as they 
were, had understood that they had been a very un- 
welcome charge to any of their former teachers. 
They had had three different teachers in the last 
year, and each change made them more restless and 
dissatisfied. It was something quite out of the or- 
dinary order of events to be actually welcomed by 
a teacher, and that teacher the new minister’s wife, 
whom they had heard their big brothers and sisters 
wishing for a teacher. The dull lifeless routine was 
entirely abandoned, and their interest in what their 
new teacher would do and say next kept them spell- 
bound with attention. 

After Christie had told them in a few bright words 
how glad she was to become their teacher, and that 
she was sure they would help her all that they 
could by being attentive and quiet, she rang a little 
bell which she told them was a signal to rise. 


140 


Christie's home-making. 


With folded hands and reverently bowed heads 
they repeated the Lord’s Prayer after her, petition by 
petition, and after that a simple prayer that even the 
youngest child could understand and join in. 

Then they sang the first two verses of a sweet 
little hymn, the words of which they quickly learned ; 
and after that came the lesson. 

“ We never had that kind of a lesson before,” re- 
marked Ned, drawing a long breath at its conclusion, 
and it is probable that they never had had a lesson 
made so clear and plain to them before, and enriched 
with so many illustrations which their childish 
minds could grasp. There was no inattention, no 
restlessness, and the comfortable seats were fully 
appreciated. Christie tested her success by asking 
questions, and she was surprised to find how reten- 
tive their memories were and how readily they had 
grasped the lesson story. 

Before they had time to weary she gave them an 
opportunity for a change of position. She taught 
them to march one by one from their seats, singing 
the little hymn she had taught them at the opening 
of the lesson, and as they passed her on their way to 
their seats again, to drop their pennies in a basket 
she had provided for that purpose. There were sev- 
eral advantages connected with this plan. It rested 
the little ones by giving them a little exercise, it 
was an orderly way for the collection of pennies, 
and the children never forgot to bring their money 
after this plan had been in operation for two or three 


WORK. 


141 


Sundays, for they were so eager to join in the march 
and hymn that they were sure to remember their 
penny. 

After the pennies had been collected, Christie 
taught them the golden text, sentence by sentence, 
and just as they were able to say it in concert the 
bell rang, and the time which was usually so tedi- 
ous both to the little ones and their teacher had 
slipped away unobserved. When Mr. Moore asked 
the school as usual for the golden text for the day, 
he was surprised, as indeed was every one else, to 
hear a full chorus in response from the infant-class, 
who had come out in orderly file and were sitting 
together, with Christie among them, in the front 
seats which were always left for their use. 

“ How do you like your new teacher ? ” he asked 
one of the little ones afterward. 

The child was holding Christie’s hand, and when 
she heard the question she tightened her clasp and 
looked up to meet Christie’s answering smile before 
she responded. 

“She’s awful nice,” she answered emphatically. 
“ She likes us too, Mr. Moore ; and oh, it’s so nice to 
have a teacher that likes us ! ” 

Love begets love always, but perhaps no hearts 
are quite as responsive as child hearts, and because 
she loved little children and wanted to rnake them 
happy, Christie had had no difficulty in winning their 
affection in return. 

It had been a happy day to her, though she had 


142 cukistie’s home-making. 

been unusually tired with her unaccustomed exer- 
tions, but fatigue was sweet when it was work in the 
Master’s service that had wearied her. She had the 
comforting sense that she had not been unsuccess- 
ful in her undertaking, and it was a pleasure to her 
to talk over the doings and sayings of the children 
with her husband, who was as interested in her work 
as if it had been his own. 


NEW PLANS. 


143 


CHAPTER XVI. 

NEW PLANS. 

“ Well, what do you think of these meetings, 
Christie?” 

The husband and wife were walking homeward 
together after prayer-meeting, and a thoughtful 
silence had been preserved between them instead 
of their usual flow of conversation. 

“ Should you feel discouraged if I really told you 
just what I thought of them ? ” asked Christie. 

“ No, that is what I want, an honest expression of 
your opinion,” answered her husband. “ You always 
say something encouraging about them, but it seems 
as if to-night’s meeting was past even your optimism. 
I should like to think that it was the meeting 
rather than tha^; I was so wholly out of accord 
with the spirit of the meeting that I could not en- 
joy it. What do you really think? It won’t dis- 
courage me at all to have you say anything about it, 
and perhaps if we admit that it is not a success, we 
can have some improvement.” 

“It will really relieve my mind then, since you are 
sure you won’t feel hurt at what I say, to confess that 
I think they are not by any means what they ought to 
be,” admitted Christie. “ It isn’t your fault, I know. 


144 


CHRISTIES HOME-MAKIiiG. 


Howe. Your talks are good and carefully prepared, 
but you can’t fill up all the time yourself, and you 
have not very much help, and there is no variety in 
what you have. I was looking at the people to-night, 
and thinking that young people could hardly have 
absented themselves more unanimously if there had 
been an age limit fixed, and you had invited those of 
fifty and over to attend. Really you and 1 were the 
only young people there. Then there are only Mr. 
Harper and Mr. Griswold who are regularly present 
and whom you can depend upon for help ; for it does 
seem, as Doctor Bateman says, as if people saved up 
for Sundays and praj^er-meeting night to get sick and 
send for him in a hurry. When he is there he al- 
ways has something bright and interesting to say, 
but neither of the other gentlemen ever do anything 
but pray, and so the only variety you can have in 
the meeting is to have Mr. Griswold pray fiist one 
evening and Mr. Harper the next. It would sound 
very funny if you should say, ‘We will vary the 
exercises of this meeting by asking Brother Gris- 
wold to lead us in prayer first this evening, after 
which Brother Harper will follow him,’ but that is 
really all the variation you can make, as far as I see. 
If the singing wasn’t so wretched, things wouldn’t 
be so bad, but it is simply a dreary wail instead of 
anything jubilant, and the brightest hymns you can 
select seem positively funereal when they are so fee- 
bly sung. Nobody who can sing well ever comes. I 
did wish this evening that I could sing loudly enough 


NEW PLANS. 


145 


to be heard three seats off, but niy voice is so weak 
and low that I can’t do any better than any one else. 
I really am not fit to even teach the infant-class to 
sing, but there the room is small, and there is no in- 
strument, so the children hear all of my voice that 
there is to hear. It would kill any meeting, I verily 
believe, to have Antioch sung so dolefully. Then 
those pauses after you liave thrown the meeting open 
are so sepulchral. If you threw open the door on a 
cold winter’s night you could not kill the meeting 
any more effectually. It’s a lonesome sort of meet- 
ing, too, if you don’t mind my finding fault witli 
so many things. There are never more than fifteen 
people at the outside, and far more frequently there 
are only twelve. If they would all sit up close 
together in the front seat, and be sociable, it would 
seem as if there were more of them, but every one 
sinks into a back seat, as far away from every one 
else as he can get consistently with securing a seat 
near the door, and even your urgent invitation to 
them to-night to come forward only brought them 
up to the ninth pew from the front. ” 

“ I felt like walking down to them, as they would 
not come up to me,” said Mr. Stanley. “ My only 
trouble was that as you had dutifully seated your- 
self at my bidding in the very front seat, I should 
have had to leave you behind me. The room is 
only half-ventilated and half-lighted too, and I think 
an uncomfortable room can detract a great deal from 
the spirituality of any meeting. I was quite enthu- 
10 


146 


Christie's home-makikg. 


siastic when I went around there this evening. I had 
really enjoyed preparing myself, and the subject Avas 
an inspiriting one, but the room or the audience or 
something chilled me in spite of myself, and I caught 
myself taking a very dreary view of what had seemed 
so bright and cheering a little while before. We 
must do something to improve these meetings or 
they will become utterly frozen soon. I have urged 
and entreated people to come, privately and from the 
pulpit, and they will not. The only thing to do is 
to make the meetings so attractive that the}^ wdll 
want to come. I wonder if there is any way to con- 
quer the obstacles that seem to be insuperable I ” 

“ Let’s take them up one by one,” said Christie, as 
they entered their own door, “ and perhaps we can 
vanquish some of them at any rate.” 

Seated in their cosy sitting-room they resumed 
the subject, and for some time talked long and earn- 
estly. It was a hard problem to solve, and one which 
had perplexed many a pastor before Mr. Stanle}", but 
where there is a determination to succeed a more or 
less degree of success will be attained. 

They had been silent for some little time, trying 
to think of some plan to suggest to each other, when 
a brighter look chased away the netAvork of thoughtful 
Avrinkles on Christie’s forehead, and she exclaimed, 

“ I think I am getting ‘ hot ’ as the children say. 
I really believe I have at least the glimmer of an 
idea that may be of some service. I was talking to 
Mrs. Bateman the other day about organizing a 


NEW PLANS. 


147 


circle of King’s Daughters, and perhaps we could 
concentrate their energies upon the prayer-meeting 
with good results. The girls that I have in mind 
are members of the Bible-class, and are all able to be 
of a great deal of assistance, if they wish to be. Mrs. 
Bateman has told me that she has done her best to 
get them to attend the prayer-meeting, but they will 
only come now and then in a very desultory fashion, 
and of course they find little to enjoy there, so they 
do not come again until Mrs. Bateman has done a 
good deal more urging. There would be one imme- 
diate result attained if they would all attend. They 
all have good voices, and lead the singing in Sunday- 
school, and if we had their voices at the prayer- 
meeting, the singing would be bright and spirited.” 

“That is a capital idea,” answered her husband, 
“ and I have one which will supplement it. I was 
just thinking that our first step must be to get up 
something of special interest to bring the people out 
once, and then if we can have a really interesting 
meeting, they will be willing to come again. My 
thought was that our first meeting should be a 
praise service, and we should make very careful prep- 
aration and have the singing particularly attract- 
ive. This will ensure a somewhat larger attendance, 
for, to begin with, the young people who are to help 
with the singing will be there, and some of their 
friends Avill of course be sufficiently interested to 
come and hear the music.” 

“It would be nice if we could manage to have the 


148 


cheistie's home-making. 


lecture-room more attractive than usual in some 
way,” added Christie. “ If it is as dark and glbomy 
looking as usual, it will be hard to make the meeting 
seem really bright. Suppose you and I go around 
before prayer-meeting time and supplement the sex- 
ton’s labors in a greater or less degree as we see 
necessary. Or, I believe I have a better idea than 
that. What do you think of appointing a committee 
to put some flowers there, and as it is an unusual 
service, decorate the reading-desk with flowers and 
make the room attractive in any way that we can? 
I believe that room could be made to look really 
cheery if it was well lighted and had a cared-for 
look. I should like to see it well filled, too, for 
once. I do think that it is a splendid plan, Howe, 
for every one is fond of music, and people who would 
not come to a prayer-meeting will come to hear 
singing.” 

“ Next week is the monthly concert for missions, 
but the week after that we will put our ideas into 
execution and see what the results will be. Your 
part will be to get the girls together and see that 
they prepare some good music. I will give you a 
list of the hymns I shall use, and then you can choose 
some others besides that you think are favorites. I 
will do my part toward making the evening as inter- 
esting as possible, and for once, at least, we will 
revolutionize that dreary meeting. Let us talk our 
plans over with our good friends and see if they 
approve of them.” 


NEW PLANS. 


149 


, “ Tlie very thing ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Bateman cor- 

dially, when Mr. Stanley told her what they had been 
talking about. “The very novelty of the praise 
service will draw people out, and then I am sure they 
will come again when they find how interesting our 
meetings can be. There is an enthusiasm in num- 
bers, and the mere fact of a large attendance on that 
one evening will create an interest.” 

When Dr. Bateman came in a little later he was 
not too tired with a long drive to enter as heartil}" as 
his wife had done into the proposed plans, and he 
promised to aid them in any way he could. 

“If I could sing, now, I might be of some prac- 
tical use, but I don’t know one note from another, 
so my helpfulness won't lie in that direction. I will 
do all I can in the way of speaking of it and urging 
people to come, and that will amount to something.” 

“ What we really need is a Christian Endeavor 
Society,” said Mr. Stanley. “ Then we should have 
a corps of workers to call on for assistance in any or 
all of the services.” 

“ Yes, I should like to see a flourishing Christian 
Endeavor Society in existence here,” agreed the doc- 
tor cordially. “There was some talk of it a year 
ago, but some people were so opposed to it that we 
thought it for the best good of the church to let the 
matter drop.” 

“ Opposed to it ! ” echoed Christie in surprise. 
“ Why, what could any one find to oppose in it?” 

“Well, as a church we are very conservative,” 


150 


CHlilSTlE'S HOME-MAKIKG. 


answered the doctor. “Some people, when they 
heard that boys and girls alike took part in the young 
people’s meetings, thought it was unscriptural, and 
quoted Paul to prove it. Others again thought it 
was giving the young people undue prominence, and 
that there would be danger of their having things 
their own way in the church if they were allowed 
to take such active part; and so the objections ran, 
none of them valid to those who were in favor of 
the society, but sufficiently strong to those who were 
opposed to it. When we found it would create posi- 
tive dissension, we abandoned the idea, and trusted 
that time would bring about changes in the minds of 
some of the people. 1 do not know whether the time 
is quite ripe for the subject to be renewed yet or 
not ; but I trust it will not be ver}" long before we 
can have an active society here. It is just what we 
want, for the very people who are opposed to the 
young people being allowed to do the work will not 
take any of it upon their own shoulders, and so it is 
left undone.” 

“I wish those who are opposed to it could attend 
just one of our young people’s social meetings of our 
Christian Endeavor Society at Weston,” said Christie. 
“ I am sure that w^ould convert them at once, they 
are always so earnest and so well attended, and our 
pastor says he looks upon our meetings as a training- 
school where he can look for his helpers in the church 
prayer-meeting. There were ever so many things in 
church work that were always left for us to do, and 


NEW PLANS. 


151 


I don't think any of the older people felt as if we 
were taking things out of their hands.” 

“There need be no reason for such a feelinsr,” 
answered Dr. Bateman. “ The work that the young 
people do in this society is, as far as I can learn 
about it, work that they are particularly fitted to do, 
and which belongs to their sphere. It was the 
people who knew nothing at all about the matter, as 
usual, that were the most pronounced in their objec- 
tions. Their eyes will be opened soon to the'import- 
ant factor in the success of our church, as a work- 
ing, spiritual church, that they are leaving out of 
account. Perhaps we can gradually change their 
opinions by using the valuable material which is in 
our church in a crude state at the present, but 
which can and should be moulded into shape for the 
future pillars of the church when the present gener- 
ation has passed away.” 


152 


CHKISTIE'S HOME-MAKIMG. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

CARRYING OUT PLANS. 

With Mr. Stanley and his wife, to plan was to 
accomplish, and the next two Aveeks were full of 
preparation for the praise service which they hoped 
would prove attractive to the people. One thing 
was certain, the prayer-meeting must be extricated 
from the ruts in Avhich it had been running for so 
long, and Mr. Stanley was sure that he could suffi- 
ciently vary the exercises, if he could only find 
helpers, to make it an interesting and helpful serv- 
ice. 

Christie’s first work Avas to carry out her plan of 
organizing the older girls into a circle of King’s 
Daughters, and she felt quite sure that they Avould 
be Avilling to undertake any work that might be sug- 
gested to them. 

The peculiar charm of Christie’s manner, Avhich 
had won all hearts in her girlhood’s home, drew these 
girls irresistibly toward her, and they were de- 
lighted when they found that in this new society 
they Avould be brought into close contact with the 
new minister’s Avife. Most of them were in Mrs. 
Bateman’s class, and they all loved their teacher, but 
Christie had all the charm of youth and novelty to 


CAIIKYING OUT PLANS. 


153 


enlist them in her service. With a heart full of 
love for her girls, and a great desire to help them 
make the best of themselves in every way, there was 
still much that Mrs. Bateman could not do, for her 
hands were very full of household cares, and she 
could not give them the time and companionship 
which she felt were desirable. 

In an upper sunny chamber, made as homelike and 
comfortable as possible, was an invalid to whom Mrs. 
Bateman devoted every available moment. It had 
been a long labor of love. For ten years she had 
cared for her husband’s aunt as tenderly and faith- 
fully as if it had been a dearly loved mother in- 
stead of one whom she had never seen until the light 
of reason had grown dim in her eyes and the body 
had survived its tenant, the mind. 

As helpless as an infant, almost as irresponsive, 
and seemingly capable of but one feeling besides 
that of consciousness of bodily comfort and dis- 
comfort, the invalid clung to her nephew’s wife with 
a dependence as great as that of a little child for its 
mother. Mrs. Bateman’s presence was the one thing 
that would call a gleam of pleasure into the dull 
eyes, and if she was long absent from her side she 
would call for her again and again until she returned 
to the bedside. 

There were many labors of love that Mrs. Bate- 
mati would gladly have undertaken in the church, 
and many a neglected corner of the vineyard whicli 
she would have willingly tilled, but she would not 


154 


chiustie’s home-:making. 


put aside this task which had been set her for any 
other work of her own choosing. There were many 
people who thought that she ought to delegate en- 
tirely to a nurse’s care a charge who had so little 
claim upon her time ; and she was even criticised for 
not doing more in the church, instead of confining 
herself so much in the sick-room. Mrs. Bateman 
troubled herself little about these criticisms, how- 
ever. She could have found many a more congen- 
ial task than spending her hours in patient minis- 
trations at the bedside of the childish old woman, 
who could not understand nor appreciate the bur- 
den that she had become, and was as unreasonable 
and petulant as a spoiled child if her wants were 
not attended to at once. She showed a marked aver- 
sion to strangers, so no one ever entered her room 
but Mrs. Bateman and her husband, with the nurse 
who had to stay with the invalid during the hours 
when Mrs. Bateman’s household duties rendered it 
imperative that she should be elsewhere. 

“ Perfect slavery ” some people called it, marvel- 
ing much at the unselfishness with which INIrs. Bate- 
man let this charge interfere with so much that she 
might have enjoyed; but it was not a slavery ; it was 
a glad and willing service. There was one thought 
that made that sunny upper chamber a veritable 
sanctuary, and it was a thought that Mrs. Bateman 
had taught herself to bear continually in mind — 

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” 


CARRYING OUT PLANS. 


155 


If the Christ had lain helpless and as a little child 
within her doors, would she not gladly have laid aside 
every other occupation to minister to his wants? and 
if instead of glorifying her house by his own pres- 
ence, he had sent instead this frail, worn-out body to 
her with the promise that whatever she did in his name 
he would accept as service done for him personally, 
was not such service a joyous privilege instead of 
hardship ? 

It was a thought that lent a strange sweetness to 
the simplest deed, and glorified each personal service 
until tliat upper room became a mount of privilege 
where Mrs. Bateman held very near and close com- 
munion with the Master. 

This discipline was not without its results upon 
her own life. The continual demand upon her 
unselfishness, the constant setting aside of her own 
wishes, the patient bearing with fretfulness and 
childish petulance, developed her character as it 
might never have been developed under other cir- 
cumstances. It brought out the full possibilities of a 
rarely sweet, sympathetic nature, and from the depths 
of her own experience she could help and comfort oth- 
ers who came to her for help. It was the same process 
by which in the natural world fruit is brought 
forth. 

When she was younger she had planned out paths of 
usefulness for herself, and it had seemed not only to 
herself, but to others, as if she might be an instru- 
ment of great usefulness. She was a consecrated 


156 


Christie’s home-making. 


Christian, and longed to use every power of mind and 
body in the Master’s service, and her tact and ability 
marked her as an efficient leader in every useful 
enterprise. It had not been an easy thing to lay 
aside her own plans for usefulness, and it seemed for 
a time as if she was condemned to uselessness because 
she could not see any results from her work. It is 
inspiriting to work when one can see achieved results 
and accomplished plans, but when day after day 
passes in a dull routine which never seems to exceed 
the bounds of a narrow circle, then it requires the 
highest consecration to believe that God’s plans 
are never mistakes, but are dictated by his infinite 
love and wisdom. Faith is apt to fail us when sight 
is obscured, and it is only when we reach some point 
where we can look back and see the perfect per- 
spective of God’s plans that we realize “ He doeth 
all things well.” Perhaps one of the hardest things 
we meet with is limitation in the path of usefulness 
we have marked out for ourselves, and we cannot 
see why we should be hindered or perhaps find our 
progress altogether obstructed. We are working for 
the Master with hearts full of love to him, and we 
may feel that his blessing has richly crowned our 
efforts in the past, when suddenly we find our way 
liedged in or so thickly beset with thorns and briers 
that our progress must necessarily be slow and 
unsatisfactory. 

Sometimes we forget that God has placed these 
limitations about us, and instead of letting them 


CARRYING OUT PLANS. 


157 


accomplish their gracious ministration, they embitter 
us and we rebel against them. 

The development of fruit in the natural world 
teaches us in parable the development of character. 
An apple, in a morphological point of view, is an 
arrested branch, a twig, that instead of being 
extended into additional wood and foliage, becomes 
an apple. All the sap and substance that would 
have been contained in the elongated branch are com- 
pressed and concentrated. This limitation of the 
branch produces increased size, a sweetness of taste 
and a richness of flavor that we could never have 
found in the leafy twig. Can we not find a lesson in 
this ? When we are arrested in our onward progress 
shall we wither away in discontent, or shall we fulfil 
God’s purpose by letting our lives round out into in- 
creased love and trust ? 

It is our own fault if we do not profit by the min- 
istrations of limitations. If we grow impatient when 
our plans are unfulfilled and our hopes are disap- 
pointed, and rebel against the restraints which are 
so hard to bear, then our characters will not mould 
out into the rounded symmetry which God has pur- 
posed. We are defeating his plans, instead of obey- 
ing his purposes and glorifying him by increased 
development, like the unconscious twig, when in his 
wisdom he sets us about with limitations. 

If the arrested twig will not obey its purpose and 
develop into fruit, it must wither and die i so with 
the soul life that will not yield to the purpose of 


153 


Christie's home-making. 


limitation. If Mrs. Bateman had rebelled at the 
obstacle which had been placed in her path, it would 
have embittered and warped her whole nature ; but 
after the first disappointment was over she recog- 
nized that it was part of God’s plan for her life, and 
so she learned with glad surprise that the ministry 
of this limitation was a gracious and helpful one. 
She was only too glad to help Christie carry out any 
of the plans that she would have gladly made her 
own, and her cordial sympathy and advice were very 
helpful to Christie in her inexperience and youth. 

It was a great help to her in coming among so 
many strangers to have such a wise, judicious friend 
as she found Mrs. Bateman. It helped her in her 
intercourse with the people to know something of 
their circumstances, even of their little peculiarities, 
so that she need not unwittingly wound them by 
any error of speech. 

If Mrs. Bateman had been any other than the true 
Christian that she was, thoroughly imbued with the 
charity that believeth all things and hopeth all 
things, this foreknowledge of tlie people might have 
been harmful to Christie rather than helpful. She 
w'ould have seen with the warped view of another’s 
prejudices, likings and dislikings, and she might 
have missed much that was beautiful and lovable in 
others by having her eyes opened to their peculiar- 
ities. 

Mrs. Bateman was one of those rarely found 
women who possess the jewel of discretion. She 


CARRYING OUT PLANS. 


159 


apparently never saw or heard anything that was 
unlovely or worthy of blame in others, but seemed 
to have eyes only for their virtues. If any one told 
her of another’s misdoing, she never commented on 
the story nor seemed to find any pleasure in it, but 
spoke of some good trait or some good deed that 
would counterbalance the less lovely one. 

Gossips did not often come to her with any stories, 
for they felt themselves tacitly rebuked by her 
silence, and without sympathy no one cares to retail 
petty stories. This trait in her character compelled 
involuntary respect, even from those who affected to 
distrust it. 

Mrs. Bush was notoriously given to tale-bearing, 
and she was universally dreaded as a news-monger, 
even by those who were always ready to lend a will- 
ing ear to her stories. 

She was not an untruthful woman, but it was 
almost impossible to recognize a story after it had 
left her lips, she had so unconsciously imputed 
motives as she retailed the facts as they had 
appeared to her. Without any intention of telling 
anything but the exact truth, she put her own con- 
struction on everything and amplified the propor- 
tions of very trifling occurrences, until after a few 
repetitions the story was magnified out of all rela- 
tion to the original facts. It nettled her to find that 
she could never induce Mrs. Bateman to show the 
least curiosity about any of her news, and if she 
persisted in repeating it, she would either be gently 


IGO chkistie's home-making. 

checked, or would have to listen in her turn to the 
recital of some kindly deed of the person she had 
just been maligning. 

To do her justice, she really could not believe in 
Mrs. Bateman’s sincerity. A bit of gossip was such 
an enjoyable morsel to her that she could not 
understand why it was not equally delightful to 
every one else, and she could not be persuaded that 
Mrs. Bateman did not talk over other people's affairs 
with her particular friends, even though she would 
not indulge in gossip with her. 

It would have been a revelation to her if she could 
have understood that Mrs. Bateman was jierfectly 
sincere in her distaste for unfriendly gossip, but she 
knew nothing by practical experience of the charity 
that “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
truth.” 

If Christie had seen her new friends through INIrs. 
Bush’s e3^es, she would have seen only the oddities, 
the faults, and the weaknesses of every one, and 
even if she had striven to resist being influenced by 
this knowledge, it would have insensibly moulded 
her opinion. As it was, she knew only the things 
that made her better prepared to be considerate and 
helpful, and helped her to discern the really good 
qualities which were sometimes hidden away beneath 
an unprepossessing exterior. 

In organizing the girls into the circle of King's 
Daughters it was a great help to her to know some- 
thing beforehand of their dispositions — whieh ones 


CARRYING OUT PLANS. 


161 


needed to be put forward to realize their own power, 
and which ones would be more helped by being 
taught to give others the precedence. 

Mrs. Bateman had suggested that she should 
invite them to the house to organize them, and 
Christie was very glad to do this, as she knew the 
meeting would be more informal and social than if 
she had had to hold it in the church. 

11 


162 


CHRISTIES HOME-MAKING. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

ORGANIZING. 

The older girls in the Sunday-school were 
delighted at receiving little notes of invitation from 
Christie asking for the pleasure of their society upon 
the following Friday evening. All the girls whom 
Christie thought of a suitable age to work together 
had been invited, regardless of class and position in 
society, and before they came she realized that it 
would not be altogether an easy thing to get them to 
work harmoniously together. As soon as the girls 
began to arrive on the evening for which they had 
been invited, they showed a tendency to separate 
into little sets, and to ignore those whom they were 
not accustomed to meet elsewhere. It took a good 
deal of tact, and not a little gentle insistence, to 
make the party a general one, but Christie succeeded 
at last. It had been her intention to make the first 
part of the evening merely an occasion of social 
intercourse, and when the girls had come more closely 
together on that ground to speak to them about the 
work that she had planned out for them. 

She carried this plan out, and by the time that the 
girls had looked at the pretty collection of photo- 
graphs that had been brought to Christie from a 


ORGANIZING. 


163 


missionary in Japan, and had played a few games 
and enjoyed some music, they were all in the most 
responsive humor that could have been wished, and 
Christie saw that the time had come to propose her 
plan. 

The girls were delighted at the idea of being organ- 
ized into a society, but Christie found that the real 
difficulty in her task lay in convincing them that 
they could be of any use in the church. The younger 
element had been entirely overlooked in this church 
hitherto, and neither they nor those who were bear- 
ing the burden and heat of the day seemed to real- 
ize how much there was that could be safely left to 
the young hearts and hands. 

The motto which Christie had made her own for so 
many years, “ Doe ye nexte thynge,” had opened her 
eyes to many paths of usefulness which stretched in 
every direction, not only before her but before others ; 
and she was just the right leader for these young 
girls, who had never been trained to watch for the 
little opportunities of usefulness which are scattered 
through every life. Besides their special service, 
which was to be helpfulness in the church, she 
wanted to teach them the beauty of the ministry of 
little things, for she knew how much might be accom- 
plished thus that would otherwise be left undone. 

Their vote was unanimous to make Christie their 
president, and then the other officers were elected, 
with considerable discussion. Christie quietly man- 
aged the nominations in such a way that representa- 


164 


Christie’s home-making. 


tives from both classes of girls, the richer and the 
poorer, were nominated, for she was very anxious 
that neither class should feel left out in this work 
in which there was so much room for all. 

She was very much pleased when the result of the 
election showed that the four officers who were voted 
for, namely, two vice-presidents, secretary, and treas- 
urer, were equally divided among the two classes. 

Lottie Jones, a bright capable girl, who belonged 
to one of the most useful and influential families in 
the church, was elected a vice-president; and Chris- 
tie felt that she would be a real help to her, for she 
was a Christian, and in the little intercourse Christie 
had already had with her she had found out that she 
showed an earnestness of purpose and a desire to be 
helpful that augured well for her future usefulness. 

Mary Evans, a shy yet bright-looking girl, who 
worked with a dressmaker, was the other vice-presi- 
dent ; and Christie was glad that she had been chosen 
to fill that position, as she seemed very popular among 
her friends, notwithstanding her quiet ways, and so 
by winning her interest the interest of her friends 
would be aroused also. 

Nettie Davis, a merry, impulsive girl of about fif- 
teen, was chosen as secretary, and she was the unan- 
imous choice of both parties, so Christie felt sure 
that she must possess qualifications for that important 
office or the girls would not have been so unanimous 
in their choice. The treasurer was Mary Stewart, a 
little lame girl, whose affliction, together with her 


ORGANIZING. 165 

sweet face and gentle ways, strongly attracted Chris- 
tie toward her. 

They seemed a little dismayed when they found 
that the first task that had been chosen for them was 
attendance upon the prayer-meeting, for it was one 
of the services of the church to which none of them 
were in the habit of going, and it was evident that 
their preconceived notions of it were not such as 
made them at all anxious to become any better 
acquainted with it. 

“ I suppose if all the other girls would go too, I 
would just as lief go every time as not,” said Nettie 
Davis at last. “But indeed, Mrs. Stanley, the 
meetings are not interesting, or at least they never 
used to be,” she added, correcting herself, lest what 
she had said might not seem courteous to Mr. Stan- 
ley. 

“I know they are not interesting,” said Christie, 
much to Nettie’s surprise, for she had rather expected 
a rebuke for speaking as if she considered the meet- 
ing dull. “It is because they are not interesting, 
and Mr. Stanley wants to make them so, that he 
wants your help.” 

“ Why, I don’t see that we would be of any use, 
except to fill up a few seats,” Nettie answered, ap- 
parently much surprised at the thought that the 
girls could add any interest to a prayer-meeting. 

“ Filling up the seats would be one part of your 
work, to be sure,” assented Christie, “ and it would 
be well worth doing, too, for there is an enthusiasm 


166 


Christie’s home-making. 


in numbers that always arouses interest ; but there is 
more than that for you to do. The singing is very 
poor, and I want to put that in your hands. Mr. 
Stanley will give us the hymns beforehand, and if 
you could come here one evening in the week, or 
meet at the church, which perhaps would be better ” 
— she corrected herself upon second thoughts, as 
she remembered that it might not always be conven- 
ient for Mrs. Bateman to have such a gathering of 
girls at her house — “we could practise the hymns 
and then we would be sure of having good music at 
all the meetings, which alone would improve tliem 
wonderfully. Don’t you think you could do that? ” 

“ It isn’t worth while to start and keep it up for a 
few weeks and then drop out one by one, is it, Mrs. 
Stanley?” asked one of the girls. 

“ No, indeed,” Christie responded promptly. 
“ Whatever we undertake we must pledge ourselves 
to do regularly and conscientiously, or it would be 
better not to try to do anything. I don’t believe 
that there will be any danger of your dropping out, 
however. In the first place, the meetings will be so 
interesting that I think you will want to come too 
much ever to stay at home willingly ; and beyond 
. that, when you remember that it is service that you 
have pledged yourselves to do for the King, in His 
Name, you will feel yourselves upon honor, and 
would do the veriest drudgery for his sake. You 
must all promise to attend every meeting unless you 
are providentially prevented. That means that if 


OKGANIZING. 


167 


God should put some other work in your hands that 
you are very sure he wants you to do in place of go- 
ing to the meeting, you are excused from attendance. 
Sometimes home duties may keep you from coming. 
A sick mother who may need your help, or illness 
that may come to you, will be a good and sufficient 
reason for staying at home ; but I am sure I can trust 
you to be very careful about judging whether hin- 
drances are really providential or merely imagined. 
If it is very stormy, you must question your- 
selves whether you would be able to go to any place 
of amusement under the same circumstances, or 
whether it is your usual custom, and one which 
seems needed for your health, to stay under shelter. 
If you are not in the habit of staying at home on 
account of the weather, then you ought to be in 
your place in the prayer-meeting ; but if it should be 
against your parents’ wishes for you to ever expose 
yourself to the weather, then you can consider that 
you are providentially detained.” 

Christie knew that two at least of her girls were 
in rather delicate health, and that it was necessary 
for them to be very careful about taking cold or un- 
necessarily exposing themselves, and she wanted to 
make it plain to them that it would be right for them 
to stay at home in stormy weather, since it would 
only be exposing their health to venture out where 
they would have to sit with wet skirts through an 
hour’s meeting. She had heard the doctor speak of 
a severe attack of illness which had been caused by 


1G8 


Christie’s home-making. 


one of the girls insisting upon going to Sunda}'* 
school in a snow storm against her mother’s wishes, 
and so she said more than she would otherwise have 
done upon the duty of staying at home under some 
circumstances. It is a duty that seldom needs any 
dwelling upon, for people are apt to consider a 
very little storm quite sufficient to keep them at 
home when the occasion to call them out is a church 
service. 

At their first meeting to practise the music for the 
next Wednesday evening, she told them that Mr. 
Stanley intended to have it a service of song ; and 
besides the singing in which they were all to join, 
she appointed various committees who were to see 
that hymn-books were distributed in all the seats, 
that there were to be flowers to decorate the room, 
and that the room was to be well aired and well 
lighted. The latter, which proper!}^ might have been 
called the sexton’s work, was very poorly done when 
it was left entirely to the old colored man who took 
charge of the church building, and a little superin- 
tendence from others would ensure a great deal 
more comfort. 

The girls were delighted at the idea of having so 
great a part of the service put into their hands, and 
each one resolved to do her share of the work as 
well as she possibly could, that everything might pass 
off creditably. 

It was a very successful evening. A praise serv- 
ice was something new, and the very announce- 


ORGANIZING. 


169 


meiit of it, in the place of the stereotyped prayer- 
meeting, aroused a httle interest. Of course the girls 
who were preparing for the evening were interested, 
and their families as well, and the committee who 
had charge of the room for the evening worked so 
hard to make their part of the preparations a suc- 
cess that several more were thus added to the num- 
ber of those who would surely be there. 

When the evening came, the dreary, ill-lighted, 
and sparsely filled room which was the usual scene 
was transformed into a cheerful, brightly lighted 
place, and the enthusiasm of numbers was not lack- 
ing to inspire the young pastor. 

None of the girls had remarkable voices, nor were 
any of them trained singers, but they did the best 
they could, and every one seemed to enjoy the famil- 
iar tunes when they were sung with earnestness and 
some volume of sound. 

Altogether Mr. Stanle}^ felt verj^much encouraged 
at the interest manifested by all, and he hoped that 
now they had found out how pleasant a week-day 
service could be, he would be able to bring them out 
again. It was the first time that any of the girls had 
felt as if they were needed in the church, and as one 
and another spoke of the good music and the pleas- 
ure it had been to have such good singing, they . re- 
solved that hereafter the singing at the prayer-meet- 
ings should always be good. 


170 


Christie’s home-making. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

HOME-MAKING. 

Christie had a great many plans for her girls 
which she was eager to carry out, but she felt that 
she must defer some of them until she should get 
into her own house. Delightful as it was to be a 
member of Mrs. Bateman’s pleasant family, yet for 
many reasons Christie was very impatient to be in her 
own home. Though her hostess was as cordial and 
hospitable as it was possible for any one to’be, Chris- 
tie knew that the addition to her family added more 
care to her already busy life, and so she felt that they 
ought not to prolong their stay any longer than was 
necessary. 

They could not expect any more comfort, if in- 
deed as much, in housekeeping, with the perplexities 
that would naturally arise sometimes to embarrass a 
young housekeeper, yet both Mr. Stanley and Chris- 
tie had a natural desire to have a home of their own 
and begin nesting. The great difficulty was in find- 
ing a suitable house in which to begin housekeeping. 
There was not a vacant house in a suitable location 
when Mr. and Mrs. Stanley first came to Warrens- 
ville, and it seemed quite possible that they might 
have to wait some time before they would have an 
opportunity to make a home for themselves. 


HOME-MAKING. 


171 


“I have a piece of news for you, Christie,” said 
Mr. Stanley, one day when he came in from a round 
of calls which he had been making. 

“ What is it ? ” asked Christie, looking up from her 
work. 

“ There is actually a house to rent in town,” he 
answered. 

“ Oh, is there really? ” exclaimed Christie joyfully. 
“Oh, Howe, can’t we take it right away? Where 
is it? When could we have it?” 

“ One question at a time, little woman,” answered 
her husband, laughing at her excitement. “ It is too 
bad to raise your hopes only to dash them to the 
ground. I am afraid you will think we are as far 
away from our own home as ever when I tell you 
where the house is.” 

“Where is it?” asked Christie. 

“ It is on the road that leads out to that new fac- 
tory that is just being finished. I think I pointed it 
out to you one day. It is a rambling, tumble-down- 
looking old place, and I am sure when you see it you 
will be quite willing to stay where we are for a 
while longer. We certainly could not be any more 
comfortable in our own home than Mrs. Bateman 
makes us, but I must confess I am as anxious as you 
can be to get to housekeeping for ourselves as soon 
as we can get a house. I know that with all Mrs. 
Bateman’s other cares we must be a considerable 
trouble, even if she is kind enough to try to make 
us feel that our society is a pleasure ; and I would 


172 


cukistie's home-making. 


like to relieve her of this additional care, as well as 
to have the pleasure of living in our own home. I 
am afraid the opportunity has not come yet, how- 
ever.” 

“ I don’t remember the house very well,” Christie 
answered. “If there is time before dinner, couldn’t 
we walk down and look at it now ? Perhaps it might 
do after all.” 

“ I am quite sure that the only way to convince 
you that it won’t do at all is to take you to see it,” 
laughed Howe. “We will go down at once, and 
then you will feel more contented to stay in these 
pretty rooms for a while longer. We can stop and 
get the key on the way, and go through the house, 
if a glance at the outside isn't enough to entirely 
disenchant you.” 

“ I don’t believe I shall be as easily disenchanted 
as you fanc}^” Christie answered, preparing herself 
for the walk. “ I am afraid it would be hard to 
make Mrs. Bateman believe how much I love her, 
and how pleasant it is to be with her, if she knew 
how eager I am to have a home of our own. I can’t 
help hoping that this house will do after all, although 
you are so prejudiced against it.” 

It was not a very long walk to the house in ques- 
tion, and in about twenty minutes from the time 
they left home they had reached it. It certainly 
was not a very inviting-looking house in which to 
begin a new home. It was roomy and well built, 
but it sadly needed a coat of paint, and everything 


HOME-MAKING. 


173 


about the place was in a state of dilapidation. The 
large garden was much overgrown with weeds, the 
shrubbery, which at some time must have been very 
attractive, had grown beyond its bounds without 
remonstrance, and the hedge of box which defined 
the edges of the walks had grown tall and straggly. 
The fence needed paint and occasional palings, and 
the gates swung by one hinge. 

It had evidently been a pleasant and somewhat 
pretentious house when it was new and had been 
properly taken care of, and considerable repair would 
again make it not only habitable but even desirable 
for a home. ' 

A large bay-window opening down to the floor of 
the porch which encircled three sides of the house 
opened delightful possibilities to Christie, and she 
was not at all dismayed by the external appearance 
of the house. 

“ It isn’t of any use to go in, is it?” asked Howe, 
as she handed him the key. “Surely you don’t 
think it is possible for us to live in such an old 
rookery as this ? ” 

“ I haven’t come to any impossible obstacle yet,” 
answered Christie. “ I would not be at all discour- 
aged by the outside of the house, if it was comfort- 
able within. By next spring we could make a very 
pretty place of this neglected garden, and things are 
not really quite as bad as they look. Of course I 
would rather have a pretty Queen Anne cottage, but 
if we can’t have that perhaps we can make this 


174 


CHRISTIES HOME-MAKING. 


house habitable. I warn you I shall not be easily 
discouraged.” 

“ I can believe that, since you are willing to look 
at the inside of such a hopeless house,” answered 
Howe, putting the key in the lock and turning it 
with considerable effort. Evidently the lock was as 
much out of order as everything else about the 
building. 

It was a very pleasantly arranged house, with a 
wide hall, and large well-lighted rooms opening on 
each side. 

“ Why, if it had been built for us, the rooms could 
not have been better arranged,” exclaimed Christie, 
delighted with her inspection, as she went from one 
room to another. 

“ This large front room would be the parlor, and 
the one behind it will be such a pleasant study for 
you. Then across the hall we could use one room 
for the dining-room, and this one with that lovely 
bay-window will make the most charming sitting- 
room.” 

There were four rooms up-stairs wdiich Christie 
immediately set apart for their various purposes, and 
a little room opening from the hall which she 
declared was just the nook for a little sewing-room. 

“ Why, it is just as nice as it can be ! ” she said at 
last, turning a radiant face toward her husband, who 
stood watching her with an amused expression on 
his face. “ Don’t you think so too ? ” 

“I must confess I don’t,” he answered. “Just 


HOME-MAKIKG. 


175 


look at these stained walls and those long festoons 
of cobwebs ! ” 

“Shut your eyes, and imagine these same walls 
covered with pretty paper and those cobweb dra- 
peries swept down,” said Christie. “Can't you just 
see how different it will be ? ” 

Howe shook his head. 

“No, I must confess my imagination will not soar 
so high,” he answered, laughing at Christie's earnest- 
ness. “It is time we were going home now, or we 
shall be late to dinner, so take your last look at the 
ruins and cobwebs before we leave them.” 

“Seriously, Christie, what do you think of it? ” he 
asked, as they stood on the porch again and he was 
locking the door. 

“1 think it has capabilities,” Christie answered 
brightly. “ Really I think that it could be made into 
a very delightful home, and I am very willing to 
undertake the task of transformation, if you will 
only share my belief in its possibilities.” 

“ I thought it would be beyond even your optimism 
to see any possibility of living here,” said Mr. Stan- 
ley, as they descended the steps. “I admit that 
there may be capabilities about it, but I must confess 
I would gladly exchange them all for a few already 
developed advantages. I believe you are glad in the 
depths of your heart that it is just such an old tum- 
ble-down place, so that you can enjoy transforming 
it into something habitable. It isn’t at all the sort 
of home I wanted to take you to, my wife, but if 


176 


Christie’s home-making. 


you are really willing to begin nesting here, of course 
I shall not object. We will talk to the doctor about 
it, and see if he thinks it would be worth while to 
undertake the extensive repairs that would be neces- 
sary before the place would be habitable.” 

“I do so hope he will think as I do about it,” 
Christie answered. “ I am so impatient to be in our 
own home that I admit I may be over-sanguine, but 
it does seem as if we might really be very comfort- 
able there.” 

Greatly to Christie’s satisfaction, when the subject 
was broached as the family gathered around the 
dinner table, both the doctor and his wife were of 
tlie opinion that a very comfortable home might be 
made of the house, though it was sadly in need of 
repairs. 

“ I know the owner would be willing to lease it at a 
very low figure, for the sake of having good tenants in 
it, as he is living at a considerable distance from War- 
rens ville and cannot look after his property himself. 
If you took a long lease it would pay you to expend 
quite a sum in making the needed repairs, and if the 
place were once put in order, I believe you would be 
quite as comfortable there as you would be in any of 
the other houses which might be vacant within the 
course of the year. There are really no very desir- 
able houses to rent here, and I think if I were in 
your place and wanted to get to housekeeping, I 
should rent this house. Not that we want to have 
you leave us,” added the doctor kindly, “ but I know 


HOME MAKING. 


177 


young people cannot feel that they are really begin- 
ning their married life until they are living in their 
own home.” 

The doctor’s opinion decided the matter, and after 
dinner Christie and Mrs. Bateman walked down to 
the house again to look at the rooms and see what 
needed to be done to them to put them in living 
order. Christie was so delighted at the prospect of 
beginning housekeeping that she would have been 
very willing to spend all the afternoon at the house ; 
and when at last she locked the door and returned 
home with Mrs. Bateman, she could not settle herself 
to any other employment until she had written a 
long letter to her mother, telling her of the new 
plans. 


12 


178 


Christie’s home-making. 


CHAPTER XX. 

NESTING. 

The weeks that followed were very busy, delight- 
ful ones to Christie. She wondered sometimes if she 
could really enjoy her new home as much when they 
should be settled in it as she did in these delightful 
days of anticipation. There was a great deal to be 
done before the house would be ready for occupancy, 
and while the paper-hangers and the painters and 
carpenters were at work Christie found that she had 
plenty to do. 

Day by day she could watch her plans developing 
into reality, and by degrees the house which had 
seemed so uninviting began to take on a ver}^ home- 
like aspect. Mrs. Bateman was always ready with 
helpful advice, which however she never proffered 
until Christie asked for it, for she knew that .young 
people like to make their own plans, and even if they 
sometimes lack the wisdom of experience, they none 
the less like to try their own way. She entered 
with the heartiest sympathy into all the plans that 
Christie delighted in making for her new home, and 
was always ready to talk about the one subject that 
occupied most of Christie’s thoughts in these days. 

Christie found that there was danger that she 


NESTING. 


179 


would allow herself to become entirely absorbed by 
the preparations for the house, and she bad to watch 
herself lest she should lose for a time her interest in 
the other duties she had taken on her shoulders. It 
was her nature to throw, herself heart and soul into 
anything in which she was interested, and she found 
that she was often tempted to let her thoughts 
wander from the preparation of her Sunday-school 
lesson or her v/ork for the girls, to the all-import- 
ant subject of her home-making. 

In just the measure that she loved to talk over 
her plans with Mrs. Bateman did Christie shrink 
from talking to Mrs. Bush, whom she had not yet 
learned to like. 

“ So I hear you don't know when you’re well off,” 
had been Mrs. Bush’s first approach on the subject 
of housekeeping. ‘-Welh there are not many peo- 
ple in this world that know enough to let well 
alone. I don’t see what on earth you want to make 
any change for, unless you are getting tired of having 
Mrs. Bateman preaching at you all the time. I am 
sure you’ll get sick enough of housekeeping before 
you have been at it very long, and you will wish 
yourself back to boarding often enough. If you 
don’t, Mr. Stanley will. I don’t suppose you even 
know how to make bread now.” 

“ Oh, 5^es, I do,” Christie answered, trying not to 
let herself get annoyed by Mrs. Bush’s manner. “I 
understand quite enough about housekeeping to 
make Mr. Stanley comfortable.” 


180 


Christie’s home-making. 


“ I suppose you think the congregation will send 
you in lots of things if you are housekeeping/’ went 
on Mrs. Bush. “ You are mistaken there though. 
I know they do it in some places, but they are not 
that kind of people here. You may as well know 
that you needn’t count on much in that way. I 
used to live in a place where they alwa3^s gave the 
minister a donation every spring and fall. It helped 
out the salary, for of course he didn’t get as much 
money when he had these donations. He wasn’t a 
pleasant man to give anything to either, for he never 
acted as if he more than half liked it. When you 
make any one a present you want to know that he 
appreciates it, but you never could feel as if he did. 
His wife did get so put out once at the ladies. She 
was a dreadful untidy woman, and so one day when 
we knew she had gone away for the day, some of us 
went to her house and put her bureau drawers and 
closets in order for her. They weren’t as much out 
of order as we had thought they must be, but 
anyhow we spent the afternoon there and straight- 
ened everything out real nice. I declare she wouldn’t 
look at one of us the next day in church. One of 
the neighbors had told her who was at the house, 
so she knew just who was to blame.” 

“I don’t wonder she was angry,” said Christie in- 
dignantly. “I should think any one would have 
been angry at having people go into her house 
when she was out and look over her bureau draw- 
ers. I don’t think you would like it, Mrs. Bush.” 


NESTING. 


181 


“Of course I wouldn’t,” answered Mrs. Bush 
promptly ; “ but then you see I am not a minister’s 
wife, and that makes all the difference. A minister’s 
wife belongs to tlie congregation, and she ought to 
remember it and not get vexed at every little 
thing.” 

“ I don’t see why you say a minister’s wife belongs 
to the congregation,” said Christie, with a little flush 
in her cheeks. “ I certainly do not consider that I 
belong to the congregation here.” 

“You’ll find out that you do, whether you think 
so or not,” said Mrs. Bush calmly. “A minister's 
wife ought to be willing to take advice, and let peo- 
ple say things to her without getting put out about 
it. As I was saying, Mrs. Turner got real angry 
when we fixed her house up for her, and she didn’t 
use to be altogether pleasant at donations. One 
time it was funny too, though she didn’t see it that 
way. We gave them a donation, and most every 
one brought potatoes. It was a good year for pota- 
toes, and they wouldn’t fetch hardly anything in the 
market, so most folks thought that the}" might as 
well take a basket along to the donation. Some of 
the folks gave potatoes and other things as well, but 
still there were more potatoes than everything else 
put together two or three times over. I was helping 
take the things as they were brought, and I declare 
we didn’t know what to do with them all, so we just 
had them carried down cellar. We filled up the oven 
with them, and when it came time for the supper we 


182 


Christie's home-makixg. 


passed around baked potatoes, for we thought the 
folks might as well have a taste of their own provid- 
ing. That’s one trouble with donations, people are 
apt to bring all of a kind. How would you like a 
donation ? ” 

“Not at all,” said Christie, with such promptness 
that Mrs. Bush laughed. 

“ Well you won’t be likely to get one here, for 
they don’t believe in it, and I must say I don’t think 
it is a very good way myself. Well, I am forgetting 
to tell you what I came over for. I wanted to say 
that when you get ready to furnish your house I will 
go with you and help you pick out your carpets. I’d 
like to do it, and if you go by yourself you will be 
likely to get some fancy carpet that won’t be of any 
use when it comes to real hard wear.” 

“I am very much obliged to you, but my mother 
is going to help me with my shopping,” answered 
Christie. 

“I suppose she’s got some judgment then, and 
won’t let you waste your money. 1 should think she 
would try to talk you into^eeping on boarding a 
while longer. By the way, there was something else 
I was going to say, if you will take it the way I 
mean it, and not get put out at it.” 

“ Of course I won’t be offended at anything that 
is kindly meant,” Christie replied. 

“ Well, you know you will want some plain furni- 
ture for up-stairs, and I have a nice walnut bedstead 
that I haven’t used scarcely at all. It has been 


NESTING. 


183 


standing in a room that I want to use for a sewing- 
room for ever so long, and it is only in the way 
there. I was just thinking this morning that it would 
be ever so nice for you to have, and I should like to 
have it made some use of instead of just being there 
where it is only in the way. It’s just as good as new 
as far as its being useful goes, and I said to myself, 
‘ I will just tell Mrs. Stanley she can have it if she 
wants it.’ Now I hope you won’t mind my offering 
it to you.” 

“ You were very kind indeed to think of it,” 
answered Christie, thinking self-reproachfully of 
her dislike to this woman, who evidently meant to be 
kind to her even if her manner was disagreeable. 
She tried to thank her warmly for her kind offer, and 
she was almost too surprised to speak when Mrs^ 
Bush said complacently, 

“ I rather thought you would like it. 1 will call 
twelve dollars a fair price for it, seeing it cost eight- 
een when it was new and has||^been used much.” 

She evidently did not npfi^'" Christie’s amazement,^ 
and when she had t^0Sn her departure, Christie 
could scarcely wait until the door closed behind her 
visitor before she burst into a peal of merry laugliter 
which reached Mrs. Bateman’s ears. 

“ I think it was the funniest thing,” she exclaimed, 
as she told Mrs. Bateman about Mrs. Bush’s offer. 
“I supposed of course she was making me a present 
of the bed ; and though I did not want it I deter- 
mined to accept it, and use it, to show that I appre- 


184 


Christie’s home-making. 


dated her Idndiiess ; and then she calmly informed 
me that she wanted twelve dollars for it.” 

It was rather a relief on the whole to discover that 
she need not feel obliged to take and use the offered 
bed, which she should have done if it had been a 
gift as she supposed. 

The long list of articles that must be purchased 
for the house grew daily, and Christie found at last 
that she must divide it into two columns, one marked 
“ Must have ” and the other “ Wish to have.” There 
were so many things that she wanted to have to 
make the house the beautiful, tasteful home that she 
had in her mind’s eye, and she soon found that the 
gratification of all her desires would have emptied a 
far deeper purse than hers. Christie was gifted in 
contrivance however, and when some desired article 
would be too expensive for her to hope to purchase 
it, she would plan for something else which should 
have a similar effect without being so costly. 

The work upon the house went on steadily, though 
all too slowly to suit Christie, but at last it was com- 
pleted, and the delightful task of purchasing the 
furniture could be undertaken. 


BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. 


185 


CHAPTER XXL 

BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. 

Mrs. Gilbert and Christie spent a delightful 
week in the city doing the necessary shopping, 
joined when possible by Mr. Stanley. For a little 
while he was quite as enthusiastic as Christie over 
the task of selection, but before long he was very 
glad to leave the rest to his wife and go back to his 
work in Warrensville. 

By the time the long list of necessary things had 
been purchased, and were on their way to the new 
home, Christie found that there would only be money 
enough left for a very few of the things on the “lux- 
ury list,” as she laughingly called it. 

“ I don’t see how I can possibly get along with- 
out these things,” she said rather dolefully, as she 
glanced at the long list through which a pencil had 
been relentlessly drawn. 

Her mother smiled at her sober face. 

“ You will be all the happier because you couldn’t 
get them just now,” she said cheerfully. 

“ Why, mother, how can that be ? ” asked Christie 
in surprise. 

“ You will always have the pleasure of looking 
forward to making these purchases one at a time as 
you can afford it, and you will enjoy them a great 


186 


Christie’s home-making. 


deal more in that way than if you could have made 
your house perfectly complete at once, and had noth- 
ing left to add to it. I can give you that little bit of 
comfort from my own experience. You don’t really 
need these things for your comfort, and you will not 
find your house bare without them. Don’t be un- 
happy over v'hat you cannot get, but just make up 
your mind to enjoy what you have.” 

Christie rolled up the list of impossible things and 
dropped it bravely into the depths of her shopping 
bag, where it would be out of sight and out of mind, 
and gave her attention to the few last things which 
remained to be done before they should take the 
afternoon train to Warrensville. 

The repairs which had been made had quite trans- 
formed the house which had at first presented such a 
forlorn appearance, and Mrs. Gilbert could hardly 
realize that it had ever been in the condition which 
Christie had described to her. The fences and gates 
had been repaired, the grounds put in good order, 
and the weather-beaten house had been painted a 
dark olive with red trimmings, which made it quite 
unrecognizable. 

Within the house the change w^as no less great. 
New paint and paper made the walls and wood- 
work fresh and dainty, and the colors had been 
carefully selected by Christie after consultation 
with Mrs. Bateman. It was a pleasant task to ar- 
range the furniture, without any of the haste that is 
necessary when one has only a limited time in which 


BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. 


187 


to move. It was fully a week before all was in read- 
iness for the wheels of the new machinery to be set in 
motion, but at last the evening came when the little 
family sat about their own table for the first meal in 
their own home. 

The delightful novelty of eating a meal in their 
own home took their appetites away, and when tlie 
neat little maiden who had been installed in the 
kitchen removed the hardly tasted dishes, the hus- 
band and wife started off for a tour of inspection 
over the house with as keen pleasure as if they had 
never seen an article of the furniture before. It was 
a pretty, tasteful home, and besides it possessed the 
charm wliich would have made the plainest place 
beautiful in their eyes : it was their first home. 
Life had never seemed as beautiful and as complete 
to Christie as it did this evening, and her heart was 
full of thankfulness to her Heavenly Father who had 
led her in such pleasant paths. 

She wanted to make this home a consecrated one, 
full of blessing to themselves and to every one who 
came within its walls ; and when later that evening 
Mrs. Gilbert had retired, and left the husband and 
wife together, she drew a little foot-stool beside 
Howe’s easy chair and laid her head upon his knee, 
nestling up beside him for a cosy chat. It was a 
cool evening toward the last of October, not cold, 
but just chilly enough to afford an excuse for the 
luxury of the grate fire which glowed in the open 
fireplace. 


188 


Christie’s home-making. 


For a time they were content to look into the 
ruddy coals without breaking the silence, but at 
last Howe spoke, laying his hand tenderly upon the 
fair head resting upon his knee. 

“We have very much to be thankful for, have we 
not, darling?” 

“ Indeed we have,” Christie responded earnestly. 
“ Oh, Howe, I have been thinking of so many things 
this evening. You don’t know how much I do want 
to make of our lovely home. May I tell you some 
of my thoughts and plans about it?” 

“ There is nothing that I should like better,” Howe 
answered, and Christie went on : 

“Please don’t laugh at me or think I am senti- 
mental, though I confess what I am going to say may 
sound so, but I want our home to be like a strain of 
beautiful music, without a single jar or discord of 
any kind. I want it to be so full of love that every 
one who comes into it even for an hour will feel its 
influence and be happier for having been here. I 
mean it to be an inspiration to you in your work, a 
refuge from everything that is trying and vexatious. 
Everything that will worry or discourage you shall 
be left at the door and the home atmosphere will 
always be cloudless and bright. I am quite sure we 
shall never quarrel ; we love each other too dearly for 
that ; and I do not see why we cannot have an ideal 
home. If we consecrate our home, I am sure we can 
make it a blessing to others as well as ourselves.” 

“ That is what I hope it will be, dearest,” her hus- 


BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. 


189 


band answered, pressing the hand which nestled in 
his own. “We will help each other to be all that 
we should be in our mutual relations to each other, 
as well as to other people, and with God’s blessing 
resting upon it I am sure we can make our home 
a centre of influence for good, as I think every home 
should be. We cannot expect that there will never 
be any discord in the music, though, darling. We 
could scarcely hope that two musical instruments 
could be brought together, and be keyed at the same 
pitch, without any preliminary tuning. With all our 
love for each other, I have no doubt but that we 
shall sometimes find occasion for mutual forbear- 
ance before we get thoroughly adjusted to each 
other. I mean to be the most loving and tender of 
husbands, and yet v/ith all my good resolutions I am 
afraid you will sometimes find me inconsiderate or 
selfish through thoughtlessness. We will never let 
the rift widen in the lute though, and by and by 
we shall bring our lives into perfect harmony with 
each other. You don't know what a help and 
inspiration it will be to me in my work, dear one, to 
feel that you are always in sympathy with me, and 
that you are interested in all my plans for the well- 
fare of the church. It makes my life complete to 
have you a part of it, and I shall be a better man 
because of your inspiration. I want to consecrate 
myself entirely to the work to which I have given 
my life, and if I can only till ever so small a corner 
in the Master's vineyard, 1 shall feel that I am 


190 


ClllilSTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


greatly blessed. You must help me to make the 
best of myself, Christie ; you must help me guard 
against my faults and weaknesses, and keep me from 
growing selfish. You must not let your love blind 
you to my faults, only let it make you patient with 
them.” 

“ I cannot imagine that I shall ever see a fault in 
you,” said Christie lovingly, pressing her husband’s 
hand close to her cheek. “ It' is I who am faulty, 
and will need the patience and forbearance, but even 
if I do fail ever so often in being the help and com- 
fort that I want to be, it will not be from lack of 
love ; and when you know that, I am sure you will 
be patient with me. I have such a high ideal for 
our home and our life together, that I shall always 
be trying to reach it, and I shall not be willing to stop 
short of it. 

“It is not just for ourselves either that I want to 
make our home pleasant. I want others to see how 
attractive a Christian home can be, and how full of 
beauty if a Christlike spirit is carried into all the 
intercourse and into the smallest details of daily life. 
Of course I cannot hope that I shall always do this, 
but it is what I shall try to remember. In eveiy- 
thing that I say and do I want to keep continually 
before me the thought of the great Example, and try 
to follow him. I want to keep before me the motto 
that Aunt Patience gave me so many years ago, and 
without looking for great opportunities of usefulness 
just be content to ‘ Doe ye nexte thynge,’ looking 


BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. 


191 


at the very smallest duties which come to me to do 
as part of God's plan for my life. She gave me my 
first idea of what a beautiful thing life could be, if one 
glorified little things by doing them for God. Her 
words have been a help to me ever since she died, 
and I know it would be a joy to her, if she could 
know it, to think that she was helping me in my 
home-making.” 

The clock chimed the hour of ten, and Christie 
looked up in surprise. 

“Is it really as late as that!” she exclaimed. 
“ Why, I thought the evening was but just begun. I 
do not know where the time has gone.” 

A little later Christie’s head was resting on her 
pillow and she was lost in a restful, dreamless sleep, 
while her husband, to whom sleep did not come as 
readily, lay beside her, watching with a glad sense of 
possession the sweet face upon which the quiet 
moonlight rested, thanking God for the gift of such 
a true and loving wife, who would be truly a help- 
meet to him and an inspiration and help both in his 
life and his work. 


19.2 


Christie’s home-making. 


CHAPTER XXIL 

QUESTIONS. 

It vroulct have been hard to find a happier or more 
contented “mistress of the manse” than Christie. 
It was a delight to her to guide the affairs of her 
home, and see that the domestic machinery ran 
smoothly without friction. She was by no means 
one of those helpless girls whose education has been 
so one-sided that it is easier for them to solve a prob- 
lem in Euclid than to master the simplest of the cu- 
linary mysteries pertaining to a well-cooked dinner. 

From her earliest childhood it had been a pleasure 
to her to assist her mother in her household cares, 
and little by little she had learned the duties of a 
housekeeper, until she was not only a good cook, but 
a wise and provident little housekeeper, who knew 
how to direct the work which she could have done 
herself had necessity required it. Her husband’s 
love would never be tested by poorly cooked food 
nor mismanagement of his resources, and there was 
no fear that she would ever become lost in one of 
those hopeless mazes of perplexity which are so apt 
to overtake young housekeepers. 

It rather amused her sometimes to listen to the 
well meant advice which some people thought it nec- 


QUESTIONS. 


193 


essary to offer her, evidently pre-supposing that she 
knew absolutely nothing of the simplest details of 
housekeeping. It was quite a surprise to them when 
they found out that she was by no means as ignorant 
as they had imagined. It was not very long before 
she found out for herself the truth of her mother’s 
words, that she would be glad that she had not been 
able to gratify all her wishes concerning the appoint- 
ments of the house at first, for it was such a keen 
delight to her when one at a time she was able to 
add these additional articles. 

A wide couch for the sitting-room had been one of 
the luxuries that she had relinquished with more 
reluctance than anything else. “It doesn’t seem so 
much like a luxury as a real necessity,” she had said, 
as she hesitated, pencil in hand, before she marked 
it off the list. “ It would be so comfortable to have 
in the sitting-room for Howe to rest on when he 
comes in tired out from his long walks, and I could 
curl up on it in the evenings when I am waiting for 
him to come in. I suppose we could spare it better 
than some other things though, like a table or chairs 
for instance. It will be the very first thing that I 
shall save up to get after we begin to keep house.” 

It was one of the most costly as well as one of the 
most wished for articles, and Christie was delighted 
when one day a plan flashed into her busy brain by 
which she was sure with her husband’s help she 
could convert a set of springs that had belonged to 
a narrow bedstead into one of the desired couches. 
13 


194 Christie’s home-making. 

Howe was quite expert in the use of carpenter’s 
tools, and he made a low pine box into which the 
springs were fitted, and then Christie undertook to 
make a pretty covering for her improvised couch by 
decorating some plain material which combined the 
double advantages of being durable and inex- 
pensive. 

Her fingers were busy over her pleasant task one 
morning when she heard a footstep on the porch, 
and a moment later the bell rang with a decisive 
peal. 

“ Is Mrs. Stanley in ? ” she heard a voice ask as 
the maid opened the door, and when Nora answered 
in the affirmative and asked the guest to walk into 
the parlor, Christie prepared to lay aside her work 
and entertain her caller. 

“I’ll just walk in where she is,” she heard the 
stranger say, and pushing open the door of the sit- 
ting-room, where she evidently knew she would find 
Christie, she entered unannounced. 

“ I knew you would be busy of course at this hour 
in the morning, as all housekeepers are,” she said, as 
Christie rose to greet her. “ So I wouldn’t let your 
girl interrupt you, but thought I would just come in 
and make myself at home. I have come on a little 
matter of church business, and I can talk just as 
well while you are at work.” 

Christie flushed a little as she resumed her employ- 
ment. Her visitor was Miss Elliot, one of the pil- 
lars in the church, “ a rough-hewn pillar ” as Chris- 


QUESTIONS. 


195 


tie laughingly called her when she was telling her 
husband of her first meeting with her. She was 
goodness personified, and could always be depended 
upon to do her full share in all the work of the 
church, and winter’s storms and summer’s heat were 
never sufficient to prevent her from occupying her 
place at every meeting both on Sundays and week- 
days. Twice it was said that she had faced a storm 
which kept every one else, except the pastor, at home 
by its fury, and people would have been scarcely 
less surprised to see one of the front doors missing 
from its place than to see Miss Elliot’s place vacant. 
She was a remarkably vigorous, well preserved 
woman for her sixty years, and rarely was subject to 
any ailment ; so she could not understand how illness 
could prevent others from doing all that she did. 

“ It all depends upon a person’s will,” she would 
say rebukingly, when any one complained of being 
obliged to leave a duty undone because of illness. 
“ If people are willing to give up and go to bed on 
every little excuse, they will always find plenty of 
chances ; but if they mean that nothing shall stand 
in the way of their doing their duty, the flesh won’t 
be quite so weak. I haven’t any patience with these 
people who are always complaining and ailing. If 
they would keep their minds on what they had to do, 
they wouldn’t have so much time for grumbling.” 

It was certain that Miss Elliot always kept her 
duty before her, and never suffered herself to relax 
the least in any of the many duties she had taken 


196 


Christie’s home-making. 


upon her shoulders. In season and out of season she 
was diligent in attending to her own tasks, as well 
as in exhorting others to do what she thought was 
their duty. 

“ Particularly out of season,” Christie had re- 
marked, after she had overheard her lecturing Mrs. 
Wyatt — who had a pair of twins and a delicate 
mother — for not coming out more regularly to the 
prayer-meetings. “ Indeed my heart is always with 
you all at the prayer-meetings, I hope, but I think 
my little ones are my first duty, and I must stay 
with them in the evenings, unless mother is feeling 
particularly strong,” Mrs. Wyatt had explained. 

“ If your heart was right, you would not be will- 
ing to let your children come between you and your 
religion,” said Miss Elliot, shaking her head gravely. 
“ My mother had seven small children, and no one 
to leave them with, and she had to walk five miles 
to church ; but she never let a Sunday pass without 
being in her place at the sanctuary.” 

“ I should like to know how she managed it,” ex- 
claimed Mrs. Wyatt, and Christie listened for the 
answer. 

She locked the children up in the house, leaving 
them something to eat, and then went to church.” 

“ Left them all alone ! ” cried Mrs. Wyatt in sur- 
prise. 

“ Yes, she knew she was in the path of duty, and 
that the Lord would take care of her children. 
When she got to the top of the hill she would al- 


QUESTIONS. 


197 


ways kneel down and pray that the children might 
be kept safe till she should return, and then she put 
them out of her thoughts and went on her way with 
an easy mind. She had the right kind of faith, and 
wasn’t afraid to trust the Lord. There is an ex- 
ample for you.” 

“ Well, I suppose she was doing what she thought 
was her duty,” said Mrs. Wyatt, with a little sigh. 
“ I am afraid my faith will never be as robust as 
that ; and besides, I am doing what I believe to be 
my duty when I take care of my children.” 

“ I hope your eyes will be opened, and you will be 
led to see that your place is at church when the 
Lord’s people assemble themselves together,” said 
Miss Elliot, as she turned away to labor with some 
one else who she thought was in need of exhortation. 

If to her zeal and consecration she had added tact 
and charity, her character would have been most 
beautiful ; but the absence of these two qualities 
made it so warped and unsymmetrical that often- 
times when she meant to do good she did positive 
harm. 

“ She can talk more people out of the church than 
any preacher can talk into it,” Mrs. Bush said one 
day, when she had put Miss Elliot to rout, after a 
conversation upon religious subjects that that lady 
had tried to hold with her. Shocked as Miss Elliot 
would have been if she had heard Mrs. Bush’s words, 
there was nevertheless quite a good deal of truth in 
the remark. Even the members of the church, 


198 


Christie’s home-making. 


those who loved and respected the real goodness in 
Miss Elliot’s character, often found their patience 
sorely tried by her bluntness of speech and her 
proneness to judge for others concerning matters 
which they could best settle for themselves. 

Those who were not Christians had no patience at 
all with what they called her interference in other 
people’s affairs, and they blamed her religion for her 
lack of tact and harshness of speech, instead of con- 
sidering that these were her personal characteristics, 
which would have been equally strong if she had not 
been a Christian. It was not strange that people 
generally resented her exhortations, for she did not 
try to make the religion which she professed appear 
gentle and winning, but made it seem unlovely and 
hard by her presentation of it. Christie was quite sure 
that she would rebuke her for spending her time 
upon work which she knew would seem perfectly 
useless to Miss Elliot, and she was not mistaken. 

Miss Elliot’s gray eyes rested upon the work in 
Christie’s fingers in silent disapproval for a few mo- 
ments, and then she spoke. 

“Is it possible, Mrs. Stanley, that you can think it 
right to sit here at eleven o’clock in the morning 
doing such work as that ? ” 

“I am not neglecting anything else,” Christie 
explained. “ I have done all that I had to do about 
the house, and made all my preparations for dinner, 
so I feel perfectly at liberty to spend the rest of the 
morning in this way ; and it is a piece of work I am 


QUESTIONS. 


199 


very impatient to finish, so I want to spend every 
spare moment upon it.” 

“ I do not see how a Christian can ever feel that 
she has time to waste upon anything as useless as 
fancy work,” Miss Elliot said reprovingly. “ When 
there is so much to do, and so few workers, I can- 
not understand how any one who has given herself 
to the Lord can feel that she has a right to waste 
any of her time. It is something that we shall have 
to give account for just as much as any other pos- 
session, and we have no right to spend it in idleness 
or unprofitable work. I feel that I ought to speak 
very plainly to you, Mrs. Stanley, for you are the 
minister’s wife, and there are a great many who will 
take you for an example ; and if you lead them astray 
it will be a heavy responsibility to bear. If we 
Christians set a better example to the world, and 
came out wholly from among them as we are bidden 
to do, we should have more infiuence over the un- 
godly. It is because they see us still conformed to 
the world, and trying to please ourselves, that they 
doubt our sincerity. The salvation of immortal 
souls ought to be the chief object and aim of our 
lives, and if those who have no concern for their 
own future welfare see us absorbed in foolish fancy 
work when we ought to be doing the Lord’s work, 
how can we expect them to believe that we are in 
earnest in our Christian profession ? ” 

Christie felt abashed by this reproof, and she 
wished with all her heart that Howe might hear the 


200 


Christie’s home-making. 


conversation from his study and come to her rescue. 
She was not gifted in argument, and she knew that 
although she might explain to Miss Elliot why she 
believed it to be perfectly right to spend part of her 
time, when her other duties had been done, in mak- 
ing her home as beautiful as possible, she would not 
be able to justify herself in that lady’s eyes. 

“ I don’t feel as if I was wasting my time, though,” 
she said, trying to explain matters as well as she 
could. “ It seems perfectly right to me, when I 
have attended to all my duties, to spend any spare 
time I have in making my home beautiful and at- 
tractive. I do not feel that fancy work is wrong 
except when it interferes with other duties, and I 
don’t think that my example in this particular will 
injure any one else. If I left everything else undone 
for the purpose of indulging my fondness for such 
things, I could see how it would be wrong, but 
really. Miss Elliot, I think I can conscientiously use 
my leisure time in this way.” 

“ Mrs. Stanley, a Christian consecrates time, money, 
and talents to God, I believe ? ” 

“ Yes,” Christie answered. 

“ Then I don’t see how you can reconcile your 
conscience to using those three things which you 
have consecrated to God’s use in making something 
for no purpose in the world except to look pretty. 
It seems to me positively sinful.” 

“ I can’t argue very well,” Christie replied. “ But I 
want to tell you as well as I can how it looks to me. 


QUESTIONS. 


201 


I think that there is a use in the world for merely 
pretty things just as well as for practical things. 
God has made so many beautiful things everywhere, 
and given us a capacity for their enjoyment, so I 
think he must mean us to admire all that is beautiful. 
When he has made things with beauty of form and 
color, like flowers for instance, without any other 
use except to be beautiful, I think that gives the 
seal of his approval to beauty, and shows that he 
means beautiful things to be a part of our lives. I 
think pretty things can be consecrated to God, and 
do just as much for him as the necessary things of 
life.” 

Miss Elliot shook her head. 

“You don't take the right view of it at all, Mrs. 
Stanley,” she said. “ I am afraid you are trying to 
justify yourself in being worldly and fond of the 
things of this present life. Don’t you think that 
there ought to be a very marked difference between 
Christians and tlie world ? ” 

“ I certainly do,” Christie responded. “ But I 
think one difference should be this: Christians 
should be brighter and more sunshiny and winsome 
than other people. They should be so attractive in 
their manner and conversation that people will feel 
drawn to the religion that they profess. A gloomy, 
censorious Christian ought to be an impossible thing, 
when we live in the sunshine of God’s love.” 

Miss Elliot looked rather shocked. 


202 


chkistie’s home-making. 


“ You had better talk to your husband about these 
things,” she said gravely. “I am sure he will tell 
you that there should be no levity in a Christian s 
walk and conversation. They should not be given 
to dress either,” she added, looking meaningly at 
the folds of Christie’s pretty morning-gown. 

“No, I agree with you that dress should not be 
given a place of too much importance,” Christie 
answered. “But I think it is every one’s duty to look 
as well as possible. One does not need to be slov- 
enly and dressed in ill-fitting clothes to love God. 
I believe that one can do more service for him by 
being as attractive as possible in person than by giv- 
ing occasion to remark by a disregard for dress. We 
are the temples of God, and it is surely fitting that 
we should make those temples worthy of his indwell- 
ing. It is not honoring him to neglect ourselves.” 

Miss Elliot was silent for a few moments. She 
had always prided herself upon her disregard of her 
appearance, and it was a new thought to her that it 
might be a Christian’s duty to be neat and attract- 
ive. She was not prepared to admit the truth of 
Christie’s arguments however, and she thought best 
to change the subject. 

“Well, I am not explaining my errand here this 
morning, Mrs. Stanley,” she said. “ I thought all 
the work for our missionary box was about done, but 
I had some sent back to me unfinished this morn- 
ing. Mrs. Fox wrote me that she was sick and 
couldn’t finish it, so I came to see if you could not 


QUESTIONS. 


203 


do it. I suppose you will be willing to do so, as you 
have nothing more important than this fancy work 
on hand.” 

“ I shall be very glad to help with it,” Christie re- 
sponded, laying aside her needle. 

The work proved to be some gingham aprons, and 
Christie promised to complete them by the next after- 
noon, so that they would be ready for the packing 
of the box the day after. 

Miss Elliot’s heart softened a little toward Chris- 
tie before she left, and when she reached the door 
after declining a cordial invitation to stay to dinner, 
she said, 

“ I believe you are a Christian and mean to do 
right, Mrs. Stanley, only I don’t think you have quite 
the right view of things. One of us must be wrong, 
when we are both Christians and look at things from 
such a different standpoint.” 

Christie was glad to hear these last words, for she 
respected Miss Elliot for her goodness and she was 
afraid that she must appear in her eyes very far from 
being a follower of Christ when she held such dif- 
ferent views from Miss Elliot and believed in so 
many things which she evidently regarded as incon- 
sistent with a Christian life. 


204 


Christie’s home-makiis"g. 


CHAPTER XXIIL 

UNFULFILLED PLANS. 

“ I BELIEVE I have a plan for every hour of this 
day,” Christie remarked one morning at the break- 
fast table. “ I do hope I shall not be interrupted, 
for my plans are so particularly useful that I should 
like to carry them out.” 

“ I should like to know what some of these great 
plans are,” said her husband with a smile, as he 
passed his cup to be refilled with coffee. 

“Well, m}^ morning plan is to go up to the alms- 
house and take one of the poor old women there some 
flannel that I have for her. The last time I was 
there she told me that she had a misery in her back 
all the time, because her flannels were not thick 
enough ; and then I am going to stay a little while 
and read to her. I did not tell her I meant to come 
to-day for fear something might happen and I should 
have to disappoint her ; but I know I shall be a wel- 
come visitor, even if I am unexpected. That will 
take most of the morning, and this afternoon I want 
to call on flve of my Sunday scholars, and then go 
to the missionary meeting. I shall get home just in 
time for tea, so don’t you think that I have quite a 
full day planned out ? Oh, I forgot, I must send a 
letter to mother this morning before I start out.” 


UNFULFILLED PLANS. 


205 


“ You certainly have plenty of employment plan- 
ned out,” Mr. Stanley replied. “ I wish you had a 
better day for your walk to the almshouse, for it is 
bleak and cold and I think a storm is threatening.” 

“I don’t mind storms,” Christie answered. “When 
I am prepared for bad weather I rather enjoy being 
out in the wind and snow or rain. I think my old 
woman will be all the more glad to see me if it is 
stormy, for she says it’s ‘ very lonely -like ’ when the 
weather is bad and there are no visitors.” 

As soon as the morning meal was concluded, and 
Christie had given her directions for the day to Nora, 
she hastened up-stairs to write her letter to her 
mother so that she could have it ready to send in 
the eleven o’clock mail. She had finished it, and 
was wrapping herself up for her intended walk, when 
there was a ring at the door and Nora came up with 
the intelligence, 

“ There’s some one down-stairs that wants to see 
you, Mrs. Stanley.” 

“ Who is it ? ” Christie asked, trying to keep a 
look of annoyance out of her face as she took her 
hat off and laid it aside. 

“It’s no one that lives here,” Nora answered. 
“ Indeed, I’m thinking that it’s an agent,” she added 
with a wise look. “ Shan’t I tell her you were just 
going out, and she must come again ? ” 

“ No, I will go down and see her,” Christie said. 
“ You may take this letter over to the postofSce for- 
me, Nora, for I am afraid I may not get out in time 


206 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


to post it myself, as it may not be an agent, but some 
one who has come to make a call.” 

Nora was right in her surmise, however, as it 
proved, for when Christie went down into the par- 
lor she found a woman waiting to see her who began 
at once to expatiate upon the merits of a book she 
was trying to sell by subscription. It was not a book 
that would be of any use either to Christie or her 
husband, and it was moreover an expensive book, 
that she could not afford to buy, or she might have 
taken it without wanting it, the woman's eagerness 
to sell was so great. Christie declined giving her 
her name as a subscriber, and intimated that she had 
an engagement, but still the woman persisted in 
showing her the book and trying to induce her to 
change her mind* 

Christie was annoyed by her persistence, and was 
about to rise and tell her that she really must excuse 
her, as she had no more time to waste, when the 
pitifully eager expression on the woman’s face 
touched her. She looked sick and tired, and there 
was a hopelessness about her that went to Christie’s 
heart. She was not sufficiently wrapped up for the 
cold December morning, and though she had been in 
the warm parlor some time there was a pinched, blue 
look still about her hands and features. 

A thought came into Christie’s mind that changed 
the whole nature of her feelings toward the woman. 
She had planned out the day for herself, she had 
intended to consecrate it moment by moment to 


UNFULFILLED PLANS. 


207 


God’s service, and the plans that she had made were 
all such as she had thought would be particularly 
acceptable to him. This interruption had chafed and 
fretted her, and she was about to let this unwelcome 
visitor see her annoyance. Yet was not this happen- 
ing, as she had thought it, part of God’s plan for her 
day? Perhaps he had sent this woman to her for 
some message of comfort or helpfulness, and she 
would be disappointing him if she let her go away 
without it. If she could serve him better in this way 
that he had planned, was she not willing to lay aside 
the plans she had made for herself and do what he 
wanted her to ? 

A kindlier feeling toward the woman came into 
her heart as she looked upon her as some one sent to 
her for some purpose, and although she could not 
help her with money, yet she determined that as far 
as kindness and sympathy could go she should not 
go away empty handed. She must meet with many 
rebuffs ; and perhaps a little sympathy, the kindli- 
ness one sister might show to another, would be 
worth as much as pecuniary help to her. 

“ I must tell you once for all that I cannot take 
the book,” she said very decidedly but pleasantly. 
“ Won’t you draw your chair over by the fire and get 
thoroughly warmed before you go out again, for it is 
quite bleak this morning and perhaps you have had 
a long walk.” 

She drew a low rocker before the blazing grate 
fire, and lajdng aside the book which the woman had 


208 


Christie’s home-making. 


placed in her lap, she made her take the comfortable 
seat and enjoy the warmth. Christie’s keen eyes 
noticed that her shoes were worn and looked as if 
she had been walking for a long distance, and that 
she shivered a little even as the heat from the coals 
fell upon her. 

A hospitable thought occurred to her, and she 
excused herself for a moment and left the room. A 
cup of coffee had been put aside from the morning 
meal, Christie purposing to refresh herself with it 
when she should return from her long cold walk from 
the almshouse. While she was warming it she put a 
couple of muffins in the oven, and in a very little 
while she went back to the parlor with a tray in her 
hand. 

Her footstep was so light that she entered the room 
unheeded, but paused for a moment upon the thresh- 
old. Her visitor had leaned back in her chair, with 
her hands clasped over her face in an attitude of de- 
spair, her whole manner so full of distress that Chris- 
tie’s heart ached for her. She shrank from letting 
the woman know that she had seen her trouble, and 
retracing her steps shut the dining-room door behind 
her loudly enough to intimate her approach. 

When she entered the parlor her visitor was look- 
ing into the fire, and was evidently making an effort 
to control her distress. 

“ W on’t you have this cup of coffee ? ” said Chris- 
tie kindly, drawing up a light table and placing the 
tray upon it by the side of her guest. 


UNFULFILLED PLANS. 


209 


“ Thank you, you are very kind,” the woman an- 
swered, her voice almost harsh with the effort she 
made to keep it from trembling ; and then her self- 
control suddenly forsook her, and bowing her head 
upon her hands she burst into a passion of tears that 
almost alarmed Christie. 

“ I am so sorry for your trouble,” said Christie 
gently, laying her hand on the woman’s shoulder, 
wishing she knew some way to comfort her. 

For a few moments the poor woman seemed to 
find it impossible to check her sobs, and then she 
looked up. 

“ Please excuse me,” she said in broken tones. 
“ I am sorry to have behaved this way. I do not 
know what you must think of me ; but if you only 
knew what trouble I am in, and how little kindness 
I have met with, you would know — ” and the tears 
choked her voice again. 

“ Please drink this coffee while it is hot,” Christie 
said, “ and then if I could help you any, if you would 
care to tell me about it, I should be very glad to 
listen.” 

The hot drink brought a little glow of color into 
the pale face, and the woman ate and drank with a 
relish that confirmed Christie in her suspicion that 
she had not had any morning meal. 

When the lunch was eaten and she had declined 
anything more, she seemed very willing to reward 
Christie’s kindness by her confidence. 

“ I must ask you again to excuse me for having 

14 


2*10 


Christie’s home-making. 


acted as I have this morning,” she began, “ but I was 
so completely discouraged that I entirely lost heart. 
This has been such a hard business for me, and I 
have been very unsuccessful in it. My husband has 
been sick ever since last spring, and he is just getting 
well enough not to need my care all the time, but he 
will not be able to do any more work for two or 
three months yet. We have been running so behind- 
hand and getting in debt that we both got quite dis- 
heartened, and I determined to see if there was not 
something that I could do to earn some money. I 
tried one thing after another, but I couldn’t get any- 
thing to do At first I hoped that I might get some 
copying to do, for then I could do it at home and 
not be away from my husband so much. But that 
was impossible, and then I looked for a chance to do 
plain sewing. No one seemed to want any done, 
and then I was so desperate that I tried to get wash- 
ing and ironing or even house-cleaning to do. It was 
only now and then that I got a day’s work, and we 
kept getting further and further behind all the time, 
and I knew I must do something or we must starve. 
I tried to get a place as book-keeper, for that was 
what I did before I was married, and I always made 
good wages at it ; but that was harder to get tlian 
anything else. Some one told me how much money 
book agents made, and so I thought I would try it, 
but I haven’t sold a single book, and I have been 
trying for five days now. It is the hardest work in 
the world, I think, for no one ever wants to see a 


UNFULFILLED PLANS. 


211 


book agent, and I have been treated so rudely in 
some places where I have been that I have got so 
that I hate to go into a house. I can only bring my- 
self to ring the bell by thinking of my husband, 
and how much we need the money, so that he will 
not have to go back to work before he is quite strong 
and well. I do not know why I have not succeeded. 
I thought perhaps it was because I did not urge the 
people enough, and so I kept on trying to get you to 
buy one even after I knew you did not want one. 
I thought if you did not get one I might as well give 
up, for I had failed so often that it would be of no 
use to try any more. Please excuse me for having 
insisted so; it was because I felt so desperate at the 
thought of failing again. I was tired and cold and 
hungry too, and your kindness upset me altogether, 
it was so different from the way 1 have been treated 
everywhere else. I walked all the way here from 
Parkville, where we live, and there was so little in 
the house this morning that I left it all for my hus- 
band, for I thought surely I would manage to sell 
at least one book to-day, and then I would get 
something to eat and ride home this evening after I 
had canvassed the town. I suppose I should have 
succeeded better if I had taken a cheaper book, but 
this is the one I was advised to take, and I knew 
nothing about it. I may as well give up canvassing, 
for I know I shall not succeed, and it is so hard to 
know that one is- always unwelcome. If I could 
only get something else to do, I should be more 


212 


Christie’s home-making. 


thankful than I can tell, for I must earn some money 
somehow.” 

“ Let me take your shawl and hat, and while you 
rest yourself perhaps we can think of some plan,” 
Christie said, her heart overflowing with thankful- 
ness that she had not been allowed to turn away this 
stranger who so sorely needed help and sympathy. 
What were the plans she had made that they could 
not be willingly^ set aside while she tried to cheer as 
best she might this discouraged heart ? It was very 
evident that Christie’s kindly interest was comfort- 
ing in itself, but she wanted to be of some real prac- 
tical assistance, though she found it hard to think 
of any way in which Mrs. Rowan could earn the 
money she so greatly needed. 

They were talking together when Christie heard 
her husband’s footstep on the porch, and she went 
to meet him, closing the door behind her, that she 
might tell him about their visitor. 

“ I am so sorry for her,” she concluded. “ And I 
do feel so helpless with all my sympathy for her, for 
she says it is hard to get a chance to work even when 
one is willing to do anything, no matter how unpleas- 
ant. She does not look strong enough for hard 
work, though she thinks she could do it, and it 
would be nice if we could find her some place where 
she could do writing, for she used to be a book- 
keeper, she says, so she could do anything of that 
kind well, I suppose.” 

Mr. Stanley looked thoughtful for a few moments. 


UNFULFILLED PLANS. 


213 


“ I know they want more help at the factory,” he 
said presently. “ I heard the foreman trying to 
engage two girls where I was calling this morning. 
Perhaps there would be something that she could 
get to do there. I will give her a note to Mr. Taylor 
and ask him to do the best he can for her. She 
might go and see about it now, and then come back 
here to dinner so that we could know how she suc- 
ceeds. If she gets a place, the pay is good, and she 
could afford to take her car fare out of it every day, 
for it is only five miles to Parkville and the fare is 
not much ; or perhaps she and her husband could 
come here to live. It would be worth while for her 
to try there at any rate, and see what she could do.” 

While Mr. Stanley went into his study to write 
the note, Christie told Mrs. Rowan about her hus- 
band’s suggestion and found her very willing to adopt 
it. She promised to return and let them know about 
it, and started off with a bright face very different 
from the hopeless expression she had worn when she 
came to the house. While she was gone Christie 
looked up a warm coat of her own which she had 
laid aside to give away, and a pair of shoes which 
were better than those Mrs. Rowan had worn, resolv- 
ing to give them to her if she could do so without 
hurting her feelings. 

It was an hour and a half before Mrs. Rowan 
returned, but Christie, who had been watching for 
her from the window, knew as soon as she caught 
sight of her that she had been successful, for the 


214 Christie's home-making. 

discouraged droop had gone out of her figure and a 
bright look illumined her pale face. 

“ I have work ! ” she cried joyously, as Christie 
opened the door for her. “ I had to wait some time 
to see the foreman, but he engaged me at once. It 
is such pleasant work too, for it is keeping accounts 
in the office ; and I shall get better pay for that than 
if I had to do piece work in the factory. I find I 
can get two rooms here just as cheap as I can in 
Parkville, and we can move here and live. I shall 
make enough to keep us and pay something on our 
debts every week.” 

“ I am so glad,” Christie exclaimed cordially, for 
she had been greatly interested in the woman’s 
trouble, and had hoped with all her heart that she 
might find a way out of it. 

When dinner was over Christie offered her the 
garments she had put aside for her, and found that 
she was very grateful for them. From her tenth-box 
she took out a sum small in itself, but sufficient to 
be a great help to any one who was penniless, and 
gave it to her to use in going home and in getting 
her things moved over to Warrensville, so that she 
might go to work as soon as possible. 

It was still early in the day, and Mrs. Rowan 
seemed to think that if she was successful in engag- 
ing two suitable rooms at once, she could go home 
and pack up and have everything in readiness to 
move the following morning. 

“ There are a great many little things about the 


UNJ'tTLFlLLED PLANS. 


215 


house that my husband feels strong enough to do,” 
she said, “ and so if I once get the things here, I 
need not take any time from the factory to settle, 
but with what my husband can do in the daytime 
and I can do evenings, we will soon get to rights.” 

“ I wish I could thank you as I want to,” she said, 
when she bade Christie good-bye. “ You don’t know 
what an angel of mercy you have been to us. I was 
ill despair. It seemed as if God had forgotten all 
about us, and that we had no friends anywhere who 
cared what became of us. I was completely dis- 
couraged, and it did seem as if we should have to 
starve in spite of all my efforts to get work.- If you 
could only know just how wretched I was, you would 
understand better how very, very good both you and 
your husband have been to me. I can never thank 
you enough.” 

“ I don’t want you to thank me,” Christie said. 
“ I feel very glad that you should have been sent to 
me for the help that some one was meant to give you 
this morning. It has been a happiness to me to be 
able to do something for you, and it is a privilege to 
have been the instrument of our Father’s care for 
you. I am so glad that you have good news to carry 
home. Good-bye. Let us hear how you get along.” 

As Christie ran up to her room and donned the 
wraps she had laid aside so unwillingly that morn- 
ing, when her plans for the day had been set aside so 
. reluctantly, she was glad in the very depths of her 
heart that she had not turned aside from the plan 


216 


CHRISTIE S HOME-MAKING. 


that God had made for her to carry out. Her plan 
for the morning had been unfulfilled, it is true, but 
was it not happily postponed by Providence, that she 
might be the bearer of comfort and encouragement 
to a discouraged sister ? 


THE GOLD DOLLAR. 


217 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE GOLD DOLLAR. 

Some of her plans for the day had to be given up, 
as it was so late before she had undertaken to carry 
them out, and she decided that the calls upon her 
Sunday scholars could be better left until the next 
day than her call at the almshouse. Of course the 
missionary meeting could not be postponed. 

Old Polly Matthews, the pensioner at the alms* 
house to whom Christie had intended to take the 
warm flannels had not forgotten either that this was 
the day for the missionary meeting, although Christie 
did not know that she knew or indeed cared any- 
thing about their meetings. She knew indeed that 
she was an earnest Christian, and her faith and 
earnest piety were so marked that Christie always felt 
as if she had been the one benefitted whenever she 
visited the patient, cheery old woman ; but there 
were so many earnest Christians in the church who 
could not be persuaded to take any active part in 
the missionary work of the church, and who could 
scarcely be persuaded to occasionally contribute 
something toward its support, that it was not 
strange that she had not expected to find an earnest 
member of the society in the almshouse. 


218 Christie’s home-making. 

It was the meeting at which the annual dues of 
each member were to be paid, and this was the first 
time in all the years in which old Polly Matthews 
had been a member of the society that she had not 
had her dollar to contribute. It had been a gift that 
cost self-denial and saving from one end of the year 
to the other ; but it was always ready, and given 
with such joy in the gift that it seemed as if it must 
be worth a dozen of the reluctant contributions which 
had to be asked for so many times and which were 
given so grudgingly. 

To-day cheery Aunt Polly, as she was familiarly 
called in the almshouse, was so quiet, and had such 
a sad look upon her usually sunny face, that the 
matron more than once asked her if she was sick. 

“ No, thank you, dearie, I’m not sick,” she would 
answer gently, grateful for the little attention, but 
the shadow rested upon her face nevertheless. 

The “misery in her back ” of which she sometimes 
complained was never severe enough to cloud the 
sunshine of her face, and it was an unusual thing 
for her to be so depressed. She had borne a good 
deal of misfortune without murmuring. Twenty 
years ago it seemed as if she had every prospect of 
having a comfortable home to call her own until 
she should be called away to the mansions above of 
which she loved to talk and think. The cosy farm- 
house was their own, unencumbered with debt or 
mortgage ; her husband was a hale, hearty man who 
it was reasonable to think would live as long as his 


THE GOLD DOLLAR. 


219 


less robust wife ; and there were two sons just grow- 
ing into manhood upon whom the old couple could 
lean in their declining years. 

Trouble had come very gradually to the happy 
home that had been bright with the sunshine of pros- 
perity for so long. Adam Matthews, the husband, 
who had never known a serious pain or ache in all 
his life, began to limp and complain of rheumatism 
in his limbs. It was so common a complaint among 
his neighbors that no heed was paid to it, and beyond 
a rubbing with some old housewife’s liniment he did 
nothing for it, until he realized that he was growing 
so stiff that he could scarcely drag himself about. It 
was of little use for the doctor to do all that he could, 
for by degrees the stiffness and numbness that had 
begun in his limbs crept up along his right side, and 
at the last the terrible truth came to him that he 
need never hope to be better. Creeping paralysis, 
certain as death itself, was taking hold upon its vic- 
tim, and a life of lingering helplessness till death 
should relieve him was all that he could look for- 
ward to. 

While the little family were trying to adjust them- 
selves to this terrible sorrow, another blow came to 
them which seemed even heavier at first because of 
its suddenness. The oldest son was brought home 
to them dead, killed by an accident in the harvest- 
field. The machine which he had been guiding had 
passed over him, when he fell from the seat, and the 


220 


Christie’s home-making. 


first grief he had ever caused his mother was when 
she looked upon his lifeless form. 

Sorrow brooded over the little house with folded 
wings after that. 

The mother had to learn that there is something 
harder than to lose a son by death. It was harder 
to see their only remaining child turn from the paths 
in which he had been brought up and go astray. 
Neither a father’s pleadings nor a mother’s tears 
availed to turn him from the course of sin he had 
chosen. He forged a note, and to save him from the 
consequences of his sin, by making good the amount 
he had stolen, the little home had to be mortgaged. 
The old father’s mind had become too clouded by 
this time to realize that this meant that his wife would 
be left in her old age without a home and depend- 
ent upon the care of her thankless son, and he 
slipped away into the shadow of death unconscious 
that a darker shadow was to fall upon her. 

There was no one to pay the interest upon the 
mortgage, and although she might have stayed in her 
little home without molestation as long as she lived, 
yet her honesty was too great to allow her to stay 
when she felt that it would only be upon tolerance, 
and that she had no right to the roof- tree she had 
saved and toiled so hard to buy. She was all alone 
without any one to care for her, for nothing had been 
heard from her son since he had been bought off from 
his scrape, and she herself said, with a patient gen- 
tleness that was more touching than a loud outcry 


THE GOLD DOLLAR. 


221 


would have been, that the almshouse was the only 
home left to her. 

She had a certain pride of her own that was sorely 
wounded at the thought that now in her old age she 
would have to become a pauper, but she reasoned 
truly that it was no worse than it would be to stay 
in her old home upon sufferance and be supported by 
her neighbors, and so she bade farewell with a heart 
that well-nigh broke to the old home nest and came 
up to the almshouse. 

She never complained, and she was so grateful for 
every kindness shown her that the matron, who was 
often sorely tried by the querulousness and impa- 
tience of the others, declared that she was worth her 
weight in gold for the sunshine she made by her 
cheery face and pleasant smile. 

To-day it seemed as if she had never so keenly 
realized her poverty and helplessness as she did when 
she could not give the little sum which she had never 
before had to refuse. She was poor indeed if she 
could do nothing for the Master’s work, when she 
loved him so much and would gladly have given all 
she had to his cause. Her prayers seemed so little 
that she did not realize that they were a rich gift 
which her church could ill spare. 

Her heart ached with homesickness for the old 
home and the old days, when she had comparative 
comfort and never need deprive herself of the lux- 
ury of giving. She crept up stairs at length to her 
little room, and opening the chest which contained 


222 


Christie’s home-making. 


all her worldly goods, she took out a little box that 
held her treasures. Such pitiful little treasures they 
were I A ringlet of yellow hair, that had been cut 
from her oldest boy’s head when he had put on pants 
and left babyhood behind him with his discarded 
skirts and his curls. A lock of soft dark baby hair 
that had grown on Willie’s head, the boy over whom 
his mother’s heart still yearned in spite of his 
waywardness. Some grey hair that she had cut 
from her husband’s head when he lay in his coffin ; 
a pair of little socks, a rattle, and the little gold dol- 
lar with a hole in it through which a blue ribbon had 
been passed. Very faded and soiled the blue ribbon 
was now, for it had been worn so many years ago 
upon her oldest boy’s neck, when he was a dimpled 
crowing baby. She had always treasured it, and it 
had become all the more precious since he had died. 

She touched it to her lips as she sat there with it 
in her hand. It was a little bit of the happy past 
which had once been her lot, and the dim blue eyes 
filled with tears as she held it tenderly in her hands. 
She had been so rich then with home and husband 
and babies, and now she was so poor that she could 
not even give a dollar to the missionary society. 

All at once she became conscious that she was 
holding a dollar in her hand. She had been accus- 
tomed to think of it only as a keepsake, and it had 
not occurred to her before that it was really a dollar 
and one that she might give if she wished. She 
held it more closely as the thought came to her. 


THE GOLD DOLLAR. 


223 


Why, it would be just as easy to give one of those 
shining tresses of hair as to part with that little gold 
dollar ! It was precious to her far beyond its intrin- 
sic value, and for a little while she felt as if she 
could not bear to part with it under any circum- 
stances. 

She kept it in her hand as she crept slowly down- 
stairs and back to her chair. It was all she had to 
give. Should she give it ? It was harder than she 
would have believed it could be to part with any- 
thing for the Master’s sake, and she reproached her- 
self for selfishness as she realized how her heart 
clung to this her treasured little coin. Perhaps she 
would not have an opportunity to give it. It might 
be that no one would come for it, and she would be 
forgotten and passed over. To be sure she could 
give it afterwards, but that would not be the same 
thing. 

While she was thinking this she saw Christie on 
her way up the hill, and she knew that this excuse 
would not hold good. The minister’s wife was com- 
ing and she had not been forgotten. She must de- 
cide at once whether she was going to hold back this 
one thing that she could give to the Lord ! 

Perhaps some other mother who handles with rev- 
erent touch little remembrances of a lost baby can 
sympathize with her clinging to the little coin. It 
was not until the door had opened and Christie had 
come in, her face glowing with the wind and her 


224 Christie’s home-making. 

struggle against it as she climbed the hill, that Aunt 
Polly had decided. 

“ I am glad you didn’t forget me,” she said, hold- 
ing out the little dollar with its pathetic bit of rib- 
bon that told the story of its preciousness. “ I was 
worrying because I hadn’t been able to save up any 
money this year. It’s the first year that I haven’t 
had a cent I could call my own, and so of course I 
couldn’t save any. I only just took it in that this 
was a dollar. I had been keeping it because it was 
Abner’s when he was a baby, and he’s dead now ; but 
I want to give it to the Lord, though I ain’t fit to 
give it as long as I grudged it at first.” 

Christie looked bewildered. She could not imag- 
ine what the poor old woman was talking about. 
Her errand had been to bring her something, and 
she did not know what she meant the dollar for. 
She had not been put in Mrs. Brown’s place as col- 
lector for the missionary society, and she would not 
have thought of coming to an inmate of the alms- 
house for contributions in any case. 

Aunt Polly saw that she was not making herself 
understood, and she explained. 

Tears came to Christie’s eyes as she touched the 
little coin. What self-denial some gifts could cost ! 
Her first impulse was to put the gold dollar back 
into the withered old hand, and tell her not to part 
with anything she held so dear, and she would give her 
another dollar to give. She checked herself in this 
impulse, however. It was not for her to deprive the 


THE GOLD DOLLAR. 


225 


old woman of the joy of self-sacrifice, though Christie 
determined that it should only be for a time. She 
knew of a use to which she could put the little dol- 
lar that would make it do more for the work to which 
it had been given than it could do just by its own 
intrinsic value, and yet bring it back to the mother 
again. 

She stayed as long as she could at the almshouse, 
and made Aunt Polly happy by the gift of the warm 
flannels she had brought her. It was almost time 
for the missionary meeting when she said good-bye 
at last and went away with the precious little coin 
safely tucked away in a corner of her pocket-book. 
This was the second time that she had been brought 
into close contact with royal givers to a cause which 
some esteem lightly in spite of all pleadings for it, 
and she felt as if it had been a great honor. She 
ranked this gift of the little gold dollar beside the mit- 
tens that Miss Judy made with so much labor that 
she might have a share in the coming of Christ’s 
kingdom. It had been one of her first pleasures 
after she had reached her new home to send to the 
cheerless little Virginia cabin a box containing sev- 
eral articles that she knew would add to Aunt Judy’s 
comfort, and every week she dispatched to her the 
religious paper that she had not already promised to 
send to some one else, knowing that it would create 
new interests in the life which seemed so barren of 
air pleasures. 

There was a better attendance than usual at the 

15 


226 


Christie’s home-making. 


missionary meeting, although the weather was so 
inclement. When all the other business of the 
meeting had been transacted and the treasurer had 
read her report, Christie produced the little gold 
coin and told its story. Every one present knew 
Mrs. Matthews well, and they were deeply touched 
at the thought of the gift which had cost so much. 

“ Can’t we buy it back, and make it a present to 
her ? ” asked Christie. 

The suggestion was immediately adopted, and one 
and another gave what they had to spare, perhaps 
giving more than they would have thought they 
could have spared if they had not known the price 
of this gift from the almshouse. Some who had 
onl}'^ brought their own yearly due told the treas- 
urer what they were willing to give, and when all 
had contributed the treasurer announced that four 
dollars and thirty cents had been given to purchase 
the little coin, and that it was the wish of the 
society that it should be sent to Mrs. Matthews as a 
little token of the esteem and love in which they 
held such a faithful member of their society. 

To Christie the delightful task was allotted of 
carrying the precious little token back to the donor, 
and when she saw the tears of delight which the old 
woman shed over her recovered treasure she had a 
better idea than ever before what the gift must have 
cost her. 


A CONSECJRATJED HOME. 


227 


CHAPTER XXV. 

A CONSECRATED HOME. 

A PENNY for your thoughts, Christie ! ” 

Christie looked up with a smile as she heard her 
husband’s question. 

“ They are not worth very much,” she replied. 
“ I was just thinking that after all my good resolu- 
tions I have been very selfish with my home. I 
thought I should make many other people happy 
with it ; and I do not know that I have carried out 
my intention at all.” 

“ You have made me very happy in it,” said Mr. 
Stanley. “Does that count for anything, or don’t 
you think I am sufficiently miserable to be made 
happy? I think I have claims upon your considera- 
tion, for if it were not for this pleasant home and 
my dear little wife, I would be just as homeless and 
miserable as you could wish. Don’t think that our 
home has been a failure just because I have been the 
only one made happy in it.” 

Christie laughed. 

“ Of course your happiness comes first of all the 
world to me,” she said. “ I should think I had failed 
indeed if I had not made you comfortable and happy, 
but I don’t want to stop there. I want to do ever 


228 


cheistie’s home-making. 


so much more. Will you listen while I read some- 
thing to you which I just came across in an old mag- 
azine in my desk? It is not very long, and I remeir- 
ber laying it aside when we were first engaged, 
because it gave me an idea of what a home might be 
in the way of helpfulness to others besides our- 
selves.” 

“Read away,” answered Mr. Stanley. “If I go 
to sleep it will be because I have been lulled to rest 
by the music of your voice.” 

“ I shall wake you up at once if I see any symp- 
toms of drowsiness,” Christie answered laughingly. 
“ I really want you to listen to this though, Howe, 
for I have a plan to suggest to you after you hear 
it. The article is called ‘ Consecrated Homes,’ and 
the writer says : ‘ I do not mean merely Christian 

homes, but those homes which have literally been 
consecrated to the Master’s service. There are so 
many ways in which a home with its dainty appoint- 
ments can be used in the cause we love and long to 
advance ! In Sabbath-school work especially we are 
thrown in contact with many who are homeless 
although not houseless. Young men and boys who 
are away from the comforts and wholesome restraints 
of home life, and are earning their living among 
strangers, cannot find a home, although they may 
obtain food and shelter within the walls of a cheap, 
over-crowded boarding-house. Perhaps you may in 
some measure feel yourself responsible for their spir- 
itual welfare as their Sunday-school teacher or their 


A CONSECRATED HOME. 


229 


pastor’s wife. In a brief hour on Sunday afternoon, 
or by a hand-clasp and kindly inquiry, you may do 
somewhat to throw about them the strong silken 
chains of influence ; but if you want them to realize 
that you are in earnest in your efforts to win them 
to Christ, and that you bear them in your heart dur- 
ing the week, you must do more than this. Open 
your home to them and make them welcome guests. 
You cannot fully realize what a bright spot in their 
lives you can make by inviting them to take tea with 
you and spend the evening. 

“ ‘ The charmed influence of a Christian home will 
linger about them after they have gone back to their 
lodgings, and it will insensibly elevate their ideal of a 
home and make their ambition purer and higher. 
Do not put away the dainty bits of bric-a-brac and 
the best china, for the boys will appreciate these just 
as thoroughly as more critical guests, and though they 
will not express their admiration in words, you will 
arouse their beauty-loving instinct and gratify it. 
Treat them as gentlemen, and the chivalry which is 
latent in every boy will struggle into expression, 
uncouth perhaps at first and lacking the polish of 
refinement, but well worth developing. Take it for 
granted that each boy means to develop all that is 
best and noblest in himself, and is going to make the 
best of himself, and you will find that the boy will 
try to deserve your estimate. 

“‘The invitation, the cordial welcome, the circle 
about the daintily-served table, with its delicate 


230 


Christie’s home-making. 


china and bits of bright color, the carefully prepared 
dishes, appetizing and savory, the pleasant evening 
afterward, and the informal worship which seems 
but a natural acknowledgment of mercies, these 
make the links in a chain that hold the boy away 
from evil companions and degraded surroundings ; 
and some time when you may never suspect it the 
remembrance of the beauty and peace of your Chris- 
tian home may outrival the unholy glitter of one of 
those palaces that stand at the entrance of the broad 
way that leads to destruction, to lure young men 
through their dazzling portals. The evening spent 
in a home will be an oasis of refreshment in the 
dreary monotony of a hard-working life, and the 
boy will not doubt that he has a place in your heart 
and your prayers when you have made him a guest 
in your home. Do you say that your carpets are too 
delicate, your china too costl}^ to use for such guests? 
that they might injure the expensive furniture or 
break some precious ornament ? Then, dear friend, 
if your home is too beautiful to consecrate to the 
service of the Saviour who bought you with his 
blood, I fear you have made a mistake. Have less 
of luxury, less of beauty, if need be, but let your 
home be consecrated to active service. 

“ ‘ There are young girls too whose lives you might 
brighten by an occasional invitation, and while they 
spend a time of social intercourse with you you can 
learn more of their special needs and weaknesses 
than in many an hour of the more formal intercourse 


A CONSECRATED HOME. 


231 


of the Simday'School. Then you can tell how best 
to reach their hearts and lift them to a better woman- 
hood, and by your human love you can more surely 
lead them to the divine love. 

“ * If you once determine to use your home for the 
Master you will find no lack of opportunity, and 
after you experience the joy of making a quiet, lonely 
life happier and brighter, you will never regret your 
experiment. Of course there are sometimes instances 
where it becomes a duty to set aside any cherished 
plan of this kind, when the Master asks us to serve 
him in another way ; but where the home can be 
consecrated to his service a very important factor 
of usefulness is withheld if it is not gladly offered. 

“ ‘ If God has blessed us with beautiful homes, 
bright with the sunshine of love, with his benedic- 
tion resting upon them, is not this all the more a reason 
why we should share our happiness with less favored 
ones? Is it not the least return we can make for 
his love and bounty to make them consecrated 
homes, consecrated willingly and gladly to his serv- 
ice?”’ 

Christie laid the magazine aside when she finished 
reading and turned to her husband. 

“ Well, my dear ? ” he asked inquiringly. 

“ W ell, I want to put these practical hints into 
practice, if you are willing. I have thought of so 
many ways in which we could let others share the 
happiness that we find in our home, and I want to 
talk them over with you. If you like the idea, I 


232 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


think it would be nice to have your young men’s 
Bible-class meet here once a month and spend the 
evening socially. They are most of them boys who 
have very few home pleasures ; in fact I think half of 
them are just boarding here in Warrensville in one 
of those crowded factory boarding-houses, and I 
know for the little money they pay that they cannot 
have many comforts. I think an evening spent here, 
if we did our best to make them enjoy it, would be 
something bright for them to look forward to from 
one month to the next. They are just of an age 
when they are not often asked as guests into pleasant 
homes, and the only places where they are made to 
feel that they are wanted are the pool-rooms and the 
street corners. I know this would be only one 
evening in the month, but it would be better than 
nothing, and the influence would extend beyond the 
time that they are actually here. What do you 
think of this plan, Howe ? ” 

“ I think it is a most excellent plan, dear,” Mr. 
Stanley replied, “ if it is not making too much work 
for you. I have felt for some time that I must get 
closer to my boys than I can in church or the Sunday- 
school, for they seem to be under the impression that 
a minister is an uncanny sort of person, and never 
was a boy ; consequently they do not believe that 
he knows anything about a boy’s temptations or 
wishes. I can’t get close enough to them to do them 
the good that I want to, and I am sure that meeting 
them socially, and when I do not have to preach at 


A CONSECRATED HOME. 


23B 


them, will help me to get at them better than any 
amount of time I may spend with them in their class. 
Of course it will be hard work until the boys get 
somewhat acquainted with us, for I suppose they 
will be so shy at first that they will be pretty hard 
to entertain. It will be work that will pay, how- 
ever.” 

“ Then that idea may be marked ‘ approved,’ and 
laid aside for use,” said Christie. “Now for my 
next idea. This is very much in the same line, only 
it will devolve more upon me to carry it out. Have 
you ever noticed how many girls go past here from 
the factory every night and turn down that little 
street in which Mrs. Rowan lives ? I was asking her 
about them a few days ago, and she says they are all 
strangers here in Warrensville and came here to get 
work in the factory in answer to an advertisement. 
They are crowded together in those boarding-houses 
that always seem to me the very perfection of dis- 
comfort, and sometimes three or four of them share 
the same room. They have not anything to do in 
the evenings but walk around the streets or sit in 
their stuffy rooms, and my heart just aches for them. 
On Sundays she says she' has tried to get some of 
them to come to church with her ; but they say it is 
their one day to have a good time, so they go off on lit- 
tle excursions, or back to their homes, when they do not 
live too far off, as most of them do however. I want 
to give those girls a little glimpse of home sunshine 
too, somehow. I know they are not pleasant girls : 


234 


Christie’s home-making. 


they are noisy and loud in their manner, and I be- 
lieve they put every cent they earn on their showy 
dresses and cheap jewelry. I am ashamed to say I 
have been feeling as if they were hardly worth do- 
ing anything for ; but after all it is not their fault 
when they never have a chance for anything better. 
I have been wondering if I could not do something 
to give them an idea of a higher pleasure than they 
know anything about. They are not making the 
best of themselves, and I don’t believe they have 
any idea how to do it. My plan is very vague as yet, 
but it is something like this : I want to ask them, a 
few at a time, to spend the evening with me, and 
show them that I feel interested in them and want 
to be their friend ; and then I want to arouse their 
ambition to improve themselves in some way. I 
know a good deal about them from Mrs. Rowan, and 
she says that all their reading is of a trashy kind, 
and they do very little even of that. I have a half- 
formed scheme in my head that I am afraid will seem 
rather Utopian at first, but I do hope I shall be able 
to see my way to make it practicable.” 

“What is it?” asked her husband, as she paused, 
fairly out of breath with her long speech. 

“ I am in hopes that a good circulating library, un- 
pretentious of course, but composed of books worth 
reading, can be started, and so the girls can have 
some helpful literature instead of the miserable trash 
they are reading. I know it would mean lots of 
work for somebody, but .1 believe it could be done 


A CONSECBATED HOME. 


235 


I am sure there are at least a hundred people here in 
Warrens ville who would be willing to contribute a 
book to such a library, and a hundred volumes would 
be a very good nucleus. If we could find a place to 
keep it where the girls could have access to it twice 
a week, they could take the books home to read. It 
would be better yet if we could have a pleasant room 
where they could go and read if they wanted to 
spend a quiet evening, but I suppose that would be 
hoping for too much. If I can just begin with hav- 
ing them here for an evening, perhaps the ‘nexte 
thynge ’ may lead into wider paths. May I ask 
them to come, Howe ? ” 

“ I am afraid you will overdo your strength, dear- 
est,” her husband answered. “ I will help you carry 
out any plans you are interested in with all my heart, 
but I do not want you to plan more than your strength 
will enable you to accomplish without overdoing. 
Can you take on this in addition to all your other 
cares? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” Christie answered. “ It will not be 
work, but a real pleasure to me, to be able to do 
something for them, Howe. If you only knew how 
I appreciate my happy life, with all its blessings, my 
home and my precious husband, you would under- 
stand how I long to pass some of my happiness on 
to those who have not so much to make them happy. 
It will not be work, but a privilege and a pleasure. 
Indeed I am sure that I shall not be undertaking 
more than I can accomplish. My own girlhood has 


236 Christie’s home-making. 

been so sheltered and guarded that I feel as if the 
least return that I can make to show my gratitude 
is to put some brightness into these hard-working 
lives which have so little of real girl happiness in 
them. I do want our little home to be the centre of 
ever widening circles of influence for good, and I 
am sure that it can be if we only try to make it so.” 

“ We will consecrate it anew to the Master’s serv- 
ice, dear one, and we will do all we can to let the sun- 
shine of our home atmosphere brighten other lives,” 
said Mr. Stanley, putting his arm tenderly about his 
wife and drawing her to his side. As they knelt to- 
gether in the family worship which was so dear to 
them both, when they carried all the joys and cares 
of their united life to the throne of grace, these 
new plans for helpfulness were laid before the Lord 
with the petition that he would accept them, and 
guide them by his wisdom so that they might ad- 
vance the interests of his kingdom. 


SUCCESSES. 


237 


CHAPTER XXVL 

SUCCESSES. 

The many plans which Mr. Stanley and his wife 
had made to increase interest in the weekly services 
proved successful, and they felt well repaid for the 
labor which it cost to put them into execution. No 
thought of failure in anything that they undertook 
together ever entered their heads, for they had not 
yet been disheartened by the failure of any of their 
theories. Theories in themselves are such beautiful 
creations, so symmetrical in their proportions, so per- 
fectly adjusted to every possible need, that it seems 
a pity that they must ever be shattered and wrecked 
by rude collisions with stubborn facts that will 
not resolve themselves into the conditions which 
are necessary to success. These two young peo- 
ple had not learned that theories, like crystals, 
are rarely without flaws, and must be often sub- 
jected to modiflcations before they can be put into 
practice ; so they rejoiced in the prospective success 
of the plans which they laid together after much 
consultation, and no shadow of a possible failure ever 
darkened their horizon. 

The Wednesday evening service which had for- 
merly been so lifeless could hardly have been recog- 


238 Christie’s home-making. 

iiized now. The singing was always good, thanks 
to the regular attendance of the young girls who 
had pledged themselves to take charge of the 
music, and Mr* Stanley enjoyed a greater freedom of 
speech when he had a good audience to address. 
That he succeeded in interesting the people was 
evinced by the remark a man made who had never 
been known to attend a prayer-meeting before this 
pastorate, and who had come simply to hear the 
singing, in which his daughter had a share. 

“ I’m coming again to hear that young man talk. 
I believe I like it better than preaching, for it seems 
to me more sociable like and interesting.” 

“It was a success to-night, Christie,” Mr. Stanley 
said as they walked homeward together the evening 
afcer the first praise-service. “ But can I bring 
them out again? I think I will make the committee on 
floral decorations a standing one. The ladies enjoyed 
their work, and it certainly added a great deal to 
every one’s enjoyment. I want to plan a good pro- 
gramme for next Wednesday night. If I only could 
depend upon some help besides Mr. Griswold’s long 
prayers, and Mr. Harper’s, which are good, only very 
much the same always. I really believe Mr. Gris- 
wold feels it to be his duty to do his share toward 
filling up the allotted hour by as long a prayer as 
possible, and though I have several times hinted to 
him that a shorter prayer would be more edifying, 
he pays no attention to me. Last week when I had 
monopolized the hour myself as much as possible, I 


SUCCESSES. 


239 


asked him to lead in a short closing prayer, but it 
was just as long as usual. That long prayer which 
is inevitable does a good deal to destroy the interest 
of the meetings. If I only could get some one else 
to take part ; but Mr. Griswold and Mr. Harper have 
been the only ones who have been accustomed to for 
so long that I am afraid it will be some time before 
I can depend upon others. I believe I will try a 
promise-meeting next week if I can get enough peo- 
ple to volunteer to take part.” 

“ If you could only keep up the interest till attend- 
ance becomes a matter of habit with them, I am sure 
you could easily sustain it,” his wife answered, feel- 
ing as if the care of all the churches rested upon her 
shoulders, for was she not her husband’s chief adviser 
and privy counsellor? 

After much solicitation Mr. Stanley found twenty- 
five who were willing to pledge themselves to take 
part in the meeting by reading aloud a favorite 
promise from the Bible. Thus another meeting was 
scored as a success. The next meeting, though 
simply a prayer-meeting, was better attended than 
usual, and the following was again a monthly con- 
cert of prayer for missions. Somewhat to the young 
pastor’s surprise, he found it was a much harder task 
to induce the men to take part than their wives, and 
it was only after much urging that he persuaded 
three men to furnish items of interest concerning 
the missionary country under consideration. 

The meetings were not always successes, but the 


240 


Christie’s home-making. 


certainty of good music and an interesting address 
from the pastor at last secured a pretty good attend- 
ance as a regular thing, and Mr. Stanley exerted his 
ingenuity to vary the exercises as much as possible 
every evening and keep out of the ruts. It cost hard 
work, but the young pastor was too much in earnest 
in his task of building up the church to care how 
much he spent himself upon its interests. The infu- 
sion of young life was beginning to make itself felt 
in the church, and even those who had hitherto 
opposed letting the young people have any of the 
responsibility, now admitted that their help could 
hardly be dispensed with and that it had certainly 
been a valuable addition. 

Christie worked hard over her infant-class. As 
any one knows who has ever undertaken this charge, 
it requires continual effort and careful preparation 
to make the lessons interesting to the little ones, and 
the ingenuity of the teacher must often be taxed to 
the utmost to present the truths which are to be 
taught in such a simple way that the childish minds 
will grasp them. 

It was a class which well repaid her for her efforts 
however. She loved them, and they returned her 
love abundantly, looking forward to the hour for the 
lesson with the joyous certainty that their teacher 
loved them and wanted to see them, and that they 
were not, as the poor children had learned to feel 
with the succession of preceding teachers, a trouble- 
some charge which no one wanted to assume. They 


SUCCESSES. 


241 


never had time to become restless and troublesome, 
for before they had time to weary of one exercise 
another had taken its place, and rising to sing the 
sweet childish hymns which Christie taught them 
kept them from becoming tired of one position. 

She visited them in their homes, and she found 
that through the little ones she had an easy passport 
to the hearts of their mothers. It was such a new 
thing for any one to take special pains to interest the 
infant-class that it was all the more appreciated. It 
was a labor of love with Christie, for little children 
had always been fascinating to her, and she loved to 
listen to their sayings ; but to be always prepared 
with the lesson often cost considerable self-denial. 

Miss Nelson was utterly amazed, one Tuesday 
morning when she called upon Christie, to find her 
with a notebook beside her and the Sunday-school 
lesson lying before her, while she was studying an 
outline picture that she thought she could use for 
the blackboard on the following Sunday. 

“ Why, what are you doing ? ” inquired Miss Nel- 
son in surprise. “ It looks as if you were studying 
your Sunday-school lesson, but you surely can’t be 
doing that on Tuesday morning.” 

“ I am, though,” Christie returned, smiling at her 
astonishment. “ I begin Sunday afternoon, after 
Sunday-school, by reading over the lesson for the 
next week, and then I try to take half an hour every 
day to go over the lesson, and I make notes of all 
that I come across during the day that I think will 
16 


242 


Christie’s home-making. 


help interest the children in the lesson or make it 
plain to them.” 

“ Is it possible ! ” Miss Nelson exclaimed. “ Why, 
I never heard of any one spending so much time on 
a Sunday-school lesson. I don’t believe more than 
half of the teachers look the lesson over at all before 
they come to the school, and I am sure they never 
really study it. I don’t see any use in it, for all 
there is to do is to ask the questions, and any one 
who can read can do that without studying the les- 
son beforehand. The children don’t pay much at- 
tention anyhow, so there isn’t any use in trying to 
explain the hard parts to them. Of course it would 
help to fill up the time, there would be that advant- 
age in it. I declare I don’t know what to do with 
all the time. I get all through with the lesson, and 
then I just let the girls sit and talk to each other, as 
long as they don’t make any noise, until the super- 
intendent rings the bell.” 

‘‘ I wish there was more time,” Christie answered. 
“ I have so much that I want to say to my little ones 
to make the lesson helpful to them all through the 
week, that I should be glad to have half an hour 
more. Surely, Miss Nelson, you don’t mean that 
you think that a teacher has nothing more to do than 
to ask the questions on the lesson leaf? Don’t you 
feel that you have any farther responsibility toward 
your scholars than to teach them the bare facts of 
the lesson ? ” 

“ To be perfectly honest with you, Mrs. Stanley,” 


SUCCESSES. 


243 


Miss Nelson replied, “ I must confess I don’t feel 
any responsibility about my class beyond making 
them behave themselves. If you can talk me into 
feeling that there is anything more than that, I am 
perfectly ready to be convinced. Please lecture me 
just as much as you want to, for I see I have shocked 
you, and I promise you that I will take it all in good 
part, and improve by it if possible. Where should 
you say my responsibility toward my class. began? ” 

“ Please don’t think that I am trying to lecture 
you,” said Christie, “but I will tell you just what 
the responsibility of a teacher seems to me. I should 
say that it began with regular attendance and un- 
failing punctuality, and beyond that in a very care- 
ful preparation of the lesson, gathering all that you 
can from every source to make the bare facts in- 
teresting, bringing illustrations, pictures, and stories 
to help make things plainer to the children, and try- 
ing to explain everything that may be at all difficult 
for their comprehension. You would be surprised to 
find how interesting the lesson could be made if 
you once prepared it carefully and kept it in your 
thoughts all the week.” 

“ Well, I should call that a great deal of responsi- 
bility,” laughed Miss Nelson. “If I had to study a 
lesson that way, I would feel as if I had a mountain 
on my shoulders.” 

“ That is only the beginning of the responsibility,” 
Christie continued. “ These children in our classes 
have immortal souls, and these souls are to be our 


244 Christie’s home-making. 

care. Of course the Sunday-school ought to be only 
supplementary to home training and teaching, but I 
have in my class, and I have no doubt that you have 
in yours, children who never receive any religious 
instruction anywhere else. In this one hour then we 
have to sow the seed that will have to spring up 
among all the weeds that have the rest of the week 
to grow in undisturbed. It seems perfectly hopeless 
to me sometimes when I think what abundant oppor- 
tunities there are during all the rest of the time to 
undo the little good I may accomplish on Sunday, 
but then I remember the promise that God’s word 
shall not return unto him void, and so I do the best 
I can and trust the results with him.” 

A thoughtful expression took the place of the 
smile on Miss Nelson’s face as she listened to Chris- 
tie’s earnest words. 

“ You make a dreadfully solemn thing of it,” she 
said. “ I don’t believe I ever think about my class 
having souls. With some of them I am so conscious 
all the time of their ill-dressed, uncared-for little 
bodies that I am glad to get away from them as soon 
as I can.” 

“ If you think of each one as a precious soul, you 
will forget everything that is not pleasant in their 
personal appearance,” Christie answered. “If you 
feel as if you could not be content until each one of 
them is a Christian, you won’t be able to help loving 
them, even if there is nothing pretty about them. I 
should add to a teacher’s responsibility that of pray- 


SUCCESSES. 


245 


ing for her class every day by name, and sometimes 
praying with them, so that they will realize how 
much in earnest you are.” 

“ You seem to take it for granted that a teacher 
must be necessarily a member of the church,” said 
Miss Nelson. 

“ I do not see how any one could teach others about 
something that she knew nothing about herself,” 
Christie answered. “ Surely any one who would be 
willing to take anything as precious as souls under 
her care must have higher strength than her own to 
depend upon. One could not teach others of Christ’s 
love if one had not learned by personal experience 
the heights and depths of it. If a teacher was not a 
Christian when she took the class, I think that the 
knowledge that she had these little ones depending 
upon her would make her feel her need of Christ, 
and she would go to him for help to bring her class 
to him.” 

“ If every one felt as you do about it, there would 
not be so many teachers, but those who had classes 
would do more good,” said Miss Nelson. “I have 
been a Sunday-school teacher the last six years, and 
I know ever so many more teachers, and I am sure 
none of them make as serious a matter of it as you 
do. I do not mean that you are not right. If one 
realizes that the children have souls, why of course 
it isn’t a light matter to teach them, especially when, 
as you say, sometimes they don’t get any home teach- 
ing ; but I don’t think most people feel that way 


246 


Christie’s home-making. 


about it. I know my Sunday-school teacher didn’t, 
for I was in her class for years, and she never did 
very much more than I do for my class. She was 
pleasant and we all liked her, but she never tried to 
teach us very much. The only thing she ever said 
to me was that I was getting old enough to think 
about uniting with the church. I did not feel like 
it, and so I didn’t, and I never have, but she never 
seemed to think that it was any of her business. 
You have made me feel so uncomfortable about hav- 
ing my class when I am not a member of the church 
that I believe I will give it up. I am not worse than 
plenty of other teachers, but I don’t want to have a 
class and not do as I ought to do by it.” 

“ There is a better way than giving up your class,” 
said Christie gently. 

“ What is it ? ” asked Miss Nelson. 

“Don’t you think it would be better to go to the 
Saviour yourself, and then you could show your lit- 
tle ones the way.” 

Miss Nelson shook her head. 

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I will think 
about it. If it is any satisfaction to you to know 
that you have made me very uncomfortable, Mrs. 
Stanley, you may as well know it.” 

She did not speak irritably, although her words 
might have sounded as if she had taken offence at 
Christie’s words if it had not been for her subdued 
manner and the tone of her voice, which was sad 
rather than angry. 



Christie’s Home-Making 


Page 24b. 









sttccesses. 


24T 


“ Will it sound very unkind if I say that I am 
glad you are uncomfortable, if only you may find 
real and lasting comfort when you do find peace ? I 
think the kindest thing I could wish for you, dear, 
would be that you might feel how much is lacking 
in your life, so that you could not rest until you 
found the love that is so precious to those who have 
tested it.” 

“ You are difterent from any one I know, and 
things seem different to you of course, but I am not 
sure whether I want to feel as you do or not,” Miss 
Nelson answered. “It seems to me as if living 
would be such a perfect slavery if you had to make 
a duty of everything and never please yourself. 
Doesn’t it worry you when you take things so seri- 
ously for fear you may not be doing just right all 
the time ? I don’t see how you can take any com- 
fort in life.” 

“ I suppose I can hardly make you understand just 
how it seems to me, any more than I could tell you 
how beautiful the world was if you had always been 
blind ; but so far from feeling as you imagine I must, 
it is the most comforting, restful feeling to know 
that everything that comes to me is part of God’s 
plan for my life. I know and feel that not even the 
smallest thing can happen to me without his knowl- 
edge ; and if I do each duty as it comes to me 1 
am carrying out his plan for my life, and it is a far 
more beautiful pattern than anything that I could 
design. I don’t mean that I am always contented. 


248 


cheistie’s home-making. 


Sometimes I want to be among those who do great 
things and accomplish great results, and it is hard to 
be contented with little things ; but when I think 
about it I am willing and glad to do what is planned 
for me, and then I have the comfort of knowing that 
I have nothing to do with the results. Those are in 
God’s hands.” 

“ Do you really feel as if every little thing was 
specially ordered ?” asked Miss Nelson. “I know 
people profess that they do, but I never believed it. 
I will believe you if you tell me that you do though. 
For instance, to take just a little thing, do you sup- 
pose my coming here this morning was anything 
more than an accident or happening ? ” 

“ I fully believe that it was part of the plan both 
for your life and mine,” answered Christie. “ It may 
be that I was meant to bring you a message from the 
Saviour of the peace and love he is waiting to offer 
you, and perhaps you were sent here on purpose to 
hear it. I do not think that this talk was in either 
of our plans for this morning. It certainly was not 
in mine, for I did not know that you were coming 
until you entered the house, and then I did not 
guide the conversation. It shaped itself, or rather 
I should say that it was guided into the channel that 
it has taken.” 

“ I did not plan coming either,” Miss Nelson said. 
“ I was passing and so I just thought I would run 
in. I am like every one else, I have fallen in love 
with you, Mrs. Stanley, and I like to be with you. I 


SUCCESSES. 


249 


only intended a little chat on general subjects when 
I came in, and I have never talked with any one in 
my life about the things we have been talking about. 
It frightens me though to think of its having been 
planned for me.” 

“ Don’t feel that way about it,” Christie answered. 
“ Think that it is love that has guided you even 
when you knew and cared nothing about it, and 
don’t refuse it. If for just one moment you could 
know what peace and happiness there is in being a 
Christian, I know that you would not be willing to 
wait another day, nor another hour even, without 
going to the Saviour. It is such a sweet, real thing to 
me that I cannot help wanting to share it with every 
one else that I care about.” 

“ I promise you that I will think about what you 
have been saying,” Miss Nelson answered. “ If you 
were old and solemn and didn’t think about anything 
else but religion, I should not feel as if it was any- 
thing that I need worry about for a good while yet, 
though of course I always meant to be a church 
member before P died ; but you are only my age, or 
even younger, and you are full of fun, and have as 
good times as any one else ; and so when you talk 
this way it seems as if it was something that I ought 
to be interested in too. Good-bye. Thank you.” 

“ Good-bye. I shall think of you very often to- 
day,” Christie responded. “ And I shall pray for 
you too, that you may not put this matter aside until 
you have settled it in a way that will make you 


250 


Christie’s home-making. 


happier all the rest of your life. Even if you were 
sure of having abundant opportunity to attend to it 
by and by, it is too much blessedness to defer. 
When you have once experienced it for yourself, 
you will find out that I have not been able to tell 
you half how sweet it is to be a Christian.” 

Many a time during the day Christie’s thoughts 
followed her visitor, and she prayed very earnestly 
that the Master would let her weak human words, 
spoken for him, lead this soul to him. 


A COMMENCEMENT. 


251 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

A COMMENCEMENT. 

Through Mrs. Rowan, Christie could get a very 
good idea of the needs of the factory hands. Some of 
the operatives were young men and women whose 
homes were in Warrensville, and who at the end of 
the day’s work washed away the traces of toil from 
their faces and hands and left all thoughts of the 
factory behind them when they returned to their 
homes, which, though plain, were still comfortable 
and inviting. 

These were in the minority however, for by far 
the larger class were strangers in Warrensville who 
had come to that place merely to get work, and who 
looked for the cheapest possible boarding-place. 
There were several boarding-houses kept for the ac- 
commodation of the factory hands, and as the one 
object of the proprietors was to make as much money 
as possible from their boarders, it can be imagined 
that comfort was not much considered. The rooms 
were small and close and as many as could be induced 
to room together were crowded into each apart- 
ment, The meals were poorly cooked, with no at- 
tempt to make them appear inviting by careful serv- 
ing. It was no wonder that the streets in Warrens- 


252 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


ville were full of the factory hands in the evening, 
for until they were ready to go to sleep there was no 
other place for them. They had none of the com- 
forts or protection of home life however humble, and 
the more Christie heard about them from Mrs. 
Rowan, the more she longed to help them. 

With Christie to will was to do, unless some in- 
superable obstacle interposed, and she set about 
carrying out her plans at once. It was a hard mat- 
ter to arouse any sympathy or interest for them in 
the hearts of other people, for they were a very un- 
welcome part of the population of Warrensville. 
The establishment of the factory had been very 
much opposed in the first place by the people, and 
when it was argued that the new industry would 
afford employment to the young people of the place 
and thus keep them from going away from home to 
look for work, they answered that it would also 
bring a very undesirable class there in search of 
work, and so the benefit their own people might derive 
from the factory would more than be made up for 
by the annoyance of having a low class of people 
brought into the town. It had certainly been any- 
thing but an advantage to the place, and the fac- 
tory hands were soon aware of the disfavor with 
which they were regarded. In return they did all 
they could to deserve the bad reputation with which 
they were credited, and by lounging on the corners 
and loud laughing and talking on the streets they 
managed to make themselves very disagreeable. 


A COMMENCEMENT. 


263 


Only a very few ever attended the church services, 
and Sunday with most of them was a day for sleep- 
ing and lounging or going on some excursion. 
There was plenty of room for missionary work 
among them, but it never seemed to occur to any one 
to undertake it. It was not an inviting field, and 
the mutual feeling of dislike between the towns- 
people and the factory hands made it very unlikely 
that any one would attempt to improve tlieir condi- 
tion, or that they would receive any advances arai_ 
cably. 

The employes who were residents of Warrensville 
held themselves aloof from the others, whom they 
regarded as beneath them, so the one channel of 
communication would be Mrs. Rowan, who seemed 
to belong to both classes, since she was a stranger in 
Warrensville, and yet had identified herself with 
the church, so that she was received among the bet- 
ter class of workers. It had been something that 
she had said that first aroused Christie's sympathies 
for the girls in the factory. She had been to see 
Christie early in the evening, and was just taking 
her leave at the gate when a group of the girls passed, 
showily dressed and talking and laughing noisily. 
They nodded familiarly to Mrs. Rowan and stared 
half-defiantly at Christie. 

“ They seem like a rough set, I know,” Mrs. Rowan 
said apologetically, “and I dare say they are, but 
the poor things have no idea of any better times than 
to walk about the streets and dress themselves up, 


254 


Christie’s HOME-MAKme. 


and though at first I felt as if I could never have 
anything to say to them, yet I am really getting to 
like some of them as I know them better and see 
how good-hearted they are under all their rough 
ways. That tall one, with the red waist and the 
feathers in her hat, is just as kind and good as any 
one could be to any of the others when they are sick 
or in any trouble. One of the girls has been sick 
for a couple of weeks, and Nellie Lewis has been 
sitting up every other night with her, and she sug- 
gested to some of the other girls that they should 
each do a little on Sadie’s work every day, and then 
add it all up and let her get the pay for it, so she 
wouldn’t get discouraged at being sick and earning 
nothing. The girls all do just as she wants them to 
and she is the leader among them. If she only had 
had chances I think she would have been a real 
bright girl. She is that any way, but what I mean 
is that she would have done well at her books. She 
never had any chances though, except what she has 
made for herself, for she told me she has had to look 
out for herself ever since she was eight years old ; 
and I think she has been a pretty smart girl to make 
a home for herself all that time, even if it has only 
been in one of those boarding-houses that to my 
thinking aren’t fit to live in, they are so crowded and 
dirty. I pity a girl that has never had any better 
home than that. Poor things, that’s all the most of 
them have though.” 

After Mrs. Rowan had gone Christie thought over 


A COMMENCEMENT. 


265 


her words, and felt more kindly toward the girls 
whom she had disliked for their bold manners and 
flaunting dress. When the plan for helping them 
entered her head, she forgot all that had annoyed 
her in their dress and behavior, in her pity for them, 
and she determined that they should at least have a 
glimpse into real home life. 

It was not very easy to arrange the first invitation, 
for there were so many that it would be impossible 
to ask all at once, and she did not know just how to 
divide the invitations. She spoke to Mrs. Rowan 
about it and asked her advice. 

Mrs. Rowan pondered for a few moments. 

“ I know what I think would be the very best way, 
if you wouldn’t mind,” she said. 

“ What is that ? ” Christie asked. 

“ If you should send for Nellie Lewis, and talk to 
her about it, and tell her that you want to give the 
girls a nice time, and ask her which would be good 
ones to invite together, I know she would feel flat- 
tered, and would do her best to help you both about 
inviting the girls and making them behave them- 
selves when they come. They all do just as Nellie 
says,” Mrs. Rowan answered. “ She’s got the notion, 
and I suppose it’s a true enough one, that people don’t 
like the factory hands, and she feels sort of proud 
about it, and wants to show that she can get along 
without any favors from them. I think it would do 
her good to have a little talk with you first, and 
understand that you really feel kindly toward them. 


256 


Christie’s home-making. 


Please don’t get out of patience with her, Mrs. Stan- 
ley, if she is a little independent at first, for indeed 
when you get to know her better you will find that 
there is some good in her.” 

“ I think it would be a very good idea to have a 
talk with her,” Christie responded. “ Will you ask 
her to call and see me to-morrow evening, Mrs. 
Rowan ? I promise you I won’t lose my patience 
even if she tries it, which I do not think she will do, 
for I am too anxious to help her to be easily dis- 
couraged.” 

Mrs. Rowan promised to deliver her message, and 
the next day at lunch time she went to Nellie and 
told her that Mrs. Stanley wanted to see her that 
evening. 

She does, does she ? ” returned Nellie, nibbling 
at a pickle with which she was alternating bites of 
cake. “ Well, you can give her my compliments 
and tell her I walk past her house every evening, 
and if she chooses to watch for me she can see me 
any time she wants to, but that she must look sharp, 
for she won’t see me any other way.” 

“ Oh, Nellie ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Rowan in dismay. 
“ Don’t act that way. Do go and see her, and I am 
sure you will like her, for she is just as lovely as she 
can be.” 

“ I don’t doubt it,” answered Nellie coolly, “ but 
I am not perfectly lovely, you see, and so we won’t 
agree.” 

“ Please go, Nellie, just for my sake ! ” urged Mrs. 


A COMMENCEMENT. 


257 


Rowan. “ I told her you were just the one to talk 
over something she wants to do, and it will make me 
feel dreadfully if you don’t go after my saying that. 
I will do the next thing you want me to do, if you 
do this for me.” 

“ You won’t be put to that trouble,” Nellie an- 
swered. “I am not going, so there ! ” 

Mrs. Rowan pleaded in vain, for Nellie was in one 
of her most contrary moods, and enjoyed refusing 
the invitation. She had not quite decided that she 
would not go, but she thought, “ I will tell her I 
won’t go, anyway, and then I can change my mind 
if I want to this evening.” 

She was unusually tired that evening, for she had 
been up with her sick friend all the night before, 
and the loss of rest after her hard day’s work had 
made her unfit to begin another day’s duties. 

“ I declare I am almost tired enough to go to bed 
now,” she thought to herself as she went up to the 
room which she shared with two other girls, after she 
had risen from her scarcely tasted dinner. “ I must 
have a little walk first though, and it will freshen me 
up a bit maybe.” 

It was with a gratified feeling that she reflected 
that she had an invitation for the evening which she 
could accept if she wanted to, and though she had 
quite resolved by this time that she would not go, 
yet she dressed herself with a little more care than 
was usual when she only contemplated a walk. She 
held her head a little higher than usual as she walked 
17 


258 


Christie’s home-making. 


past the house to which she had been invited, and 
studiously looked the other way to show her com- 
plete indifference, for she had no doubt but that Mrs. 
Stanley was watching her. 

She thought it was quite possible that she might 
hear her call after her, and she was prepared for 
that, but she was not at alf prepared for what really 
did happen. 

Half a block farther some one came around the 
corner so suddenly that before either could move 
out of the way Mrs. Stanley and Nellie had come 
into collision. 

“ Oh, I am so glad to have met you,” Christie ex- 
claimed cordially. “ You must have thought me very 
rude to be out when I asked you to call, but I really 
couldn’t help it. 1 went to see a little sick boy in 
my Sunday-school class, and he went to sleep with 
his head in my lap ; and as it was the first sleep he 
had had all day, I couldn’t bear to move and disturb 
him, so I waited till he woke up, hoping I might still 
get home before you came. I am so sorry to be so 
late, but you must turn back with me now.” 

Nellie was not prepared for such cordiality, and 
the warmth of Christie’s manner melted away the 
stiffness and haughtiness which she had intended to 
show. It was so evident that Mrs. Stanley had fully 
expected her to accept the invitation, that Nellie 
felt. as if it would be a little awkward for her to dis- 
claim all intention of accepting it. 

“ I may as well go just to see what she wants me 


A COMMENCEMENT. 269 

for,” she thought to herself, so she turned back to 
the house with Christie. 

As soon as the latch of the gate clicked the door 
opened, and a flood of light and warmth came out 
into the cold evening. 

“ I was growing anxious about you,” Mr. Stanley 
exclaimed. “ It was so l^te, and I did not know what 
had detained you. I was just thinking that I would 
go in search of you.” 

Christie explained again the reason of her deten- 
tion, and introduced her companion, whom Mr. Stan- 
ley greeted almost as cordially as his wife had done, 
and then as the evening meal was still waiting, 
Christie bade Nora put another place at the table, 
and insisted upon Nellie’s coming out to tea with 
them. 

A spirit of bitterness had always rankled in Nel- 
lie’s heart toward those who had pleasant homes 
and plenty of this world’s goods, and she was always 
watching for slights, which her pride would at once 
resent, whether real or fancied. For once in her life 
she forgot this feeling, for she had to acknowledge 
to herself that no guest could have been more cor- 
dially welcomed than she was in this home. 

It was a new experience to her. She had never 
seen a tea-table daintily set with delicate china and 
spotless linen, and the well-cooked, appetizing food 
looked as different as it was possible to imagine from 
the “messes,” as she contemptuously styled them, 
of the boarding-house. She had no appetite for her 


260 


Christie’s home-making. 


dinner before, but she enjoyed this meal very much, 
all the more because she was not allowed tim.e to 
grow shy and self-conscious, but was drawn into the 
pleasant conversation. There was not the slightest 
trace of patronage or condescension in the manner 
of either Mr. or Mrs. Stanley, and not the most sen- 
sitive person could have imagined that there was a 
flaw in the cordial welcome. “ They don’t talk shop, 
either, that’s a comfort,” Nellie thought, with a feel- 
ing of relief, for she had rather expected that when 
they sat down the conversation would consist of in- 
quiries about the factory and her work there. 

“ I have enough of that through the day, and if 
they think I want to talk about that they will find 
they are mistaken,” she had thought when she drew 
her chair up to the table ; but she was compelled to 
admit to herself that the conversation could not have 
taken a pleasanter channel if she had been an hon- 
ored guest instead of only a factory hand. Both her 
host and hostess seemed to take it for granted that 
she would be interested in all the matters that inter- 
ested them, and Nellie grew quite animated over the 
little sick boy when Christie told her what a dear 
little fellow he was, and how patiently he had borne 
his sufferings. In her turn she told Mrs. Stanley 
about her sick friend, and unconsciously gave her 
listeners an idea of the loyalty of her friendship 
when she spoke of the long nights she had spent at 
the girl’s bedside, and how hard the girls had all 
worked to help make up her loss. By the time they 


A COMMENCEMENT. 


261 


rose from the table Nellie had quite forgotten that 
she meant to be as disagreeable as possible, and was 
her natural self, not quite as self-assertive and inde- 
pendent as she was among her companions, but all 
the more pleasing in her manner because of a little 
diffidence, which made her more gentle than her 
wont. 


262 


CHRISTIES HOME-MAKING. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 

“Now I want to tell you what I have been think- 
ing about,” Christie said, when tea was over and Mr. 
Stanley had gone out to make some calls, leaving his 
wife and her visitor in the sitting-room before the 
cosy open fire. 

Nellie leaned back luxuriously in the easy-chair 
Mrs. Stanley had drawn up before the fire for her, 
telling her that she knew she would be tired enough 
to enjoy it after her night’s vigil and her busy day. 
Nellie was very fond of pretty things, and although 
her taste was not cultivated nor refined, and she was 
satisfied with the gaudy colors and flashy appearance 
of her clothes, yet this pleasant room with its taste- 
ful furnishings and dainty bits of bric-a-brac satis- 
fied her love of beauty as nothing had ever done 
hitherto. She would have been contented to simply 
sit still and look around her and enjoy the delight- 
ful sense of being welcome here, and the miserable 
room at the boarding-house seemed drearier than 
ever in comparison. Suddenly a wave of bitter feel- 
ing swept over her, and the softened expression upon 
her face vanished, leaving the hard, bold look that 
was generally there in its place. Why should some 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 


263 


people have all this comfort, and an easy life, while 
others had nothing pleasant in their lives and had to 
work hard for even enough to eat and a place to 
sleep ? It was not right, and she felt as if she hated 
all the world as she contrasted her condition with 
that of Mrs. Stanley. 

She had been so pleasant all through tea time that 
Christie had really looked forward with pleasurable 
anticipations to having a good talk with her, and 
finding out how she could best go to work to carry 
out her plans. She was not prepared for this change 
of mood, and when drawing up her rocking-chair 
beside Nellie, she went on, “ I want to get acquainted 
with the girls in the factory, and I think you can 
tell me better than any one else how I can manage 
it,” she was surprised at the rude reply, “We are 
quite able to pick out our own friends, thank you, 
ma'am, and you needn’t trouble yourself to interfere 
with us.” 

It was so utterly unlike anything that Christie 
had expected her to say that for a moment she was 
too much taken aback to speak. Her first feeling 
was one of indignation. After all her kindness to 
the girl, and her efforts to show her that she did not 
mean to patronize her, but meet her on an equal 
ground, she felt that she did not deserve this from 
her. For an instant she felt like giving up all her 
kind intentions, but she checked herself in this feel- 
ing. It was not wholly for the sake of the girls that 
she wanted to help them ; it was from a higher motive 


264 


Christie’s home-making. 


than mere kindly feeling toward them ; and she must 
be willing to bear patiently with them, if they did 
not respond as she would have liked to hkve had 
them. 

“ Miss Lewis, I don’t think you quite mean that,” 
she said gently, after a moment’s pause. “I know 
you are not very well acquainted with me, but I 
think you have known me long enough to know that 
it is not for any purpose of interfering that I have 
asked you to come and see me. I wish you would 
believe me when I tell you that I really want to be 
your friend, and that any thoughts and plans I have 
concerning you are only kind ones, that I am sure 
you will like when you know about them.” 

“ You had better let us alone,” returned Nellie 
sullenly. “ You can’t know anything about us or how 
we have to live — how should you? You have every 
thing you want, you can take things easy and have 
a good time, so you can’t understand what it is to 
have to work like a dog all the time or starve. I 
don’t see why one person should have everything 
and another nothing. I don’t see any right or justice 
in it. What are you better than me except that you 
have been brought up like a lady without soiling 
your hands, while I have never had any one to lift a 
hand for me? You needn’t try to make us feel the 
difference by trying to patronize us. You have had 
chances, and we haven’t, and that makes the differ- 
ence between us.” 

There was such a bitter, despairing tone in the 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 


265 


girl’s voice that, rough though her words were, Chris'^ 
tie pitied her instead of being vexed at her. She 
could imagine how sharp the contrast must be 
between her own home and Nellie’s, and she did not 
wonder that the girl was rebellious. 

“ I know that there is a great deal of difference in 
our lives that we have not anything to do with our- 
selves,” she answered gently. “ It is because I have 
so many blessings that I want to share them with 
others who have not so many. I enjo}^ my home so 
much that I want to let others have some of it too, 
and it was just this that I wanted to talk to you 
about. I know that it is not because I deserve it 
that I have been so blessed, and I want to show my 
thankfulness for all my mercies by doing what little 
I can to make others happier. I shall be very much 
disappointed if you will not let me I wish you 
could feel as kindly toward me, Nellie, as I feel 
toward you. I know your life must be a hard one, 
and I would be so glad to help you get all the bright- 
ness you could out of it. You know what a happi- 
ness it is to do for others, for I have heard how kind 
you are to the other girls, and how much you do for 
them. Can’t you let me have that same pleasure?” 

A softened expression gradually banished the look 
upon Nellie’s face as she listened to Christie. There 
was no assumption of any superiority, no looking 
down upon those less fortunate than herself, only a 
loving desire to divide with those who had not the 
blessings which made her so happy ; and bitter as her 


266 Christie’s home-making. 

heart was, she could find nothing’ to resent in Chris- 
tie’s words. 

Her bright black eye^ filled with tears, which 
slowly stole down her cheeks. Was it possible that 
Mrs. Stanley, who seemed to have everything that 
heart could wish, was offering to be her friend 
and wanted to do something to make her happier ? 
She must mean it, or she would not have been so 
kind to her after the rude repulse she had received. 
There was too much innate nobility in the girl, with 
all her faults, for her not to regret that she had done 
injustice to one who wished to be kind to her, and 
making an effort to steady her voice, she said, 

“I’m sorry I spoke that way to you, Mrs. Stanley. 
I ought to have known that you were different from 
other people, or you wouldn’t have been as good to 
me as you have been this evening. You don’t know 
how ugly it makes me, though, to know that people 
look down on us and think we are only trash because 
we have to work in the factory for a living. I guess 
any of us would be glad enough if we didn’t have to 
work so hard. We are just left out of all the good 
times that other people have, and no one wants to 
have anything to do with us.” 

“ Then won’t you help me plan something dif- 
ferent?” said Christie; and feeling sure now of 
Nellie’s sympathy, she told her some of the plans she 
had made. 

“ You don’t know how different it will make things 
for us,” Nellie answered. “ If we only had some- 


A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 


267 


thing nice to look forward to once in a while we 
wouldn’t mind the work, but it is just drudge, 
drudge, drudge all the time without anything else 
mixed in. To walk around town in the evenings 
isn’t any fun, though we have to do it, for there isn’t 
anything else to do with ourselves till bedtime. 
There is hardly one of the girls that has ever been 
out to spend the evening in a house as nice as this. 
My, they will think it is just elegant ! ” and she 
glanced around the room admiringly. 

She helped Christie make out a list for the first 
evening’s invitations and at first suggested that she 
should be left till another evening. 

“ You see I have had a good time this evening, 
and I can wait,” she said, and then confessed with a 
sudden impulse of honesty, “Do you know, I had 
no thought of coming here to-night, Mrs. Stanley. 
I wanted to show you that I didn’t care anything 
about you, and so I went right past the house ; and 
then I met you, and you seemed to think I had meant 
to come, and so I didn’t like to say I hadn’t.” 

“I am very glad I met you then,” Christie an- 
swered. “I should have been very much disap- 
pointed if you had not come. It is very kind in you 
to think of waiting till the last evening, but don’t 
you think that perhaps it would be better to come 
on account of the other girls? We are acquainted 
now, and you can help me get acquainted with them, 
but if you are not here it will take so much longer.” 

“ That’s so,” Nellie replied. “ I guess I had better 


268 


cheistie’s home-making. 


come after all. I just wish you could see how pleased 
the girls will be when they know that they are com- 
ing. I won’t tell them anything about it, and then 
it will be a surprise to them when they get your 
invitation. You were awful good to think about it, 
Mrs. Stanley, and it would have served me just right 
if you had given it all up when I was so ugly 
about it.” 

“ I was too much in earnest to be so easily discour- 
aged,” Christie answered. “It will give me as much 
pleasure as it will you, and I think that I can 
arrange to send out the invitations for some evening 
next week. I am so glad I had a chance to talk it 
over with you first, for I wanted to know just how 
the girls would feel about it.” 

“Well, I must be going now,” Nellie said, as 
the clock struck nine. “ I am so tired to-night 
that I ought to get to sleep early, but you don’t 
know how coming here has rested me. It has been 
so different from everything else. Good-night.” 

Going back to the cheerless room was harder than 
ever after her glimpse into something so different, 
but there was a new feeling in her heart in the place 
of the bitter recklessness that had been there so long, 
as she thought that she had a friend who cared for 
her if she was only a factory hand, and meant to help 
her to greater happiness than she had known hitherto. 

Of the infinite love that was the source of this 
human kindness she had no thought or knowledge 
as yet, poor child. 


NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 


269 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 

It was a delightful November morning, clear and 
crisp, with a suggestion of frost in the air that made 
one’s ears tingle and brought a ruddy glow to the 
cheeks. Christie was walking rapidly down the 
street when she heard the sound of a horse’s feet 
coming swiftly along behind her, and in another mo- 
ment the doctor’s buggy drew up beside her and he 
leaned out to speak to her. 

“ Mrs. Stanley, haven’t you time to take a drive 
this morning ? ” he asked. “ I am going out in the 
country about three miles, and it is such a beautiful 
morning that I tried to persuade my wife to go with 
me. She had something on hand that she couldn’t 
leave, and so she told me to see if you couldn’t go.” 

“ I should like to go very much indeed,” Christie 
answered, pleased at the prospect of a drive, and 
soon she was snugly seated beside the doctor and 
rolling rapidly along the frozen road. 

It did not take very long for the doctor’s spirited 
horse to accomplish three miles, and when they 
reached the house where he intended to make his 
call he drew out his watch and glanced at it before 
he got out of the buggy. 


270 


chkistie’s home-making. 


“ Mrs. Stanley, if you would like to drive a little 
farther instead of waiting in front of the house for 
me, which would be rather stupid amusement, you 
could go as far as the pond and then turn round and 
come back for me. It is a pleasant little drive and 
you are not afraid of the horse, I know. He’s as gentle 
as a lamb, if he is a little frisky. A doctor’s horse 
feels the responsibilities of his position too much to 
run away, so you can trust him.” 

“ I should like to do that very much,” Christie 
answered, as she took up the lines. “How soon 
shall you be ready to have me come for you ? ” 

“ In about twenty-five minutes,” the doctor an- 
swered. “ I want to make a little longer call than 
usual this morning, for I have a patient in here who 
needs cheering up more than medicine.” 

Christie drove away, and the doctor opened the 
gate and strode up to the door in the brisk way that 
one of his patients declared always made her feel 
better to begin with, “ for it seemed as if he was in 
a hurry to get there and cure the trouble right up.” 

It was a boarding-house, and the mistress herself 
came to the door as she saw the doctor’s buggy drive 
away. 

“ Good-morning, doctor,” she said. “ I want to 
talk to you a moment about Miss Allison, if you 
will step into the parlor.” 

She shut the door behind them and then turned 
to the doctor, and said, 

“ I just wanted to tell you that your medicines won’t 


NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 


271 


do her much good if she keeps on fretting the way 
she has been doing. She is worrying because her 
board is running up, and because she can’t get back 
to work any sooner ; and I tell her she just uses up 
her strength in worrying. If I hadn’t a pretty hard 
time to get along anyhow, I would tell her she is 
welcome to her board while she has been sick, but 
you know as well as I do that I can’t do that, doctor, 
though I haven’t charged her a cent for all the extra 
work and waiting on, and meals up-stairs and all ; 
so that is as much as 1 can do. I tell her she can 
take her time to pay me, but she seems to feel as if 
she had a perfect mountain on her shoulders, and she 
won’t wait till she’s well before she tries to carry it. 
I don’t know what to do with her, she frets so ; and 
I just made up my mind I would get you to speak to 
her.” 

“ I’ll try and cheer her up a little,” the doctor 
returned. “ I know you do all you can for her, Mrs. 
Davies, and you have been a real good friend to her 
since she has been sick. If your purse were as big 
as your heart I know you would do ever so much 
more j^but after all there are better ways of helping 
people than with money, and she appreciates all that 
you have done, I know. You do your best to 
brighten her up and I will do my part.” 

The patient’s door was partly open, and as the 
doctor went up-stairs he saw Miss Allison leaning 
back in her easy-chair, with her hands over her face, 
sobbing convulsively, while some sewing upon which 


272 


Christie’s home-making. 


she had evidently been at work was lying in her 
lap. 

“ Well, well, this is a pretty way to carry out my 
directions ! ” the doctor exclaimed in his cheery, genial 
voice, drawing up a chair and sitting down beside 
his patient. “ Why, Miss Allison, you will put your- 
self back in bed again if you give way so to your feel- 
ings. What is the matter now?” 

“ Nothing new,” the young girl answered, trying 
to check her tears as she replied to the doctor’s 
question; “only I am so completely discouraged 
that I don’t believe I want to get well at all. I 
shall never be strong enough to work again, I believe, 
and what will become^of me? I am just a burden 
to every one now, and I shall never be anything 
else. I tried to sew a little this morning to see how 
much strength I had, and I could only take a few 
stitches before I was tired out. When I shall ever 
get strong enough to sew all day I can’t imagine, 
and here I am running behind all the time, and my 
bills will be so large that I can’t pay them in years. 
I do try not to worry, but it is dreadful to sit here 
all day and just think and think. I am so tired of 
everything in the room that even the paper on the 
wall makes my head ache. If it was only some- 
thing else besides those simpering old bunches of 
roses, I don’t believe it would be as bad, though per- 
haps anything else would be the same if I had looked 
at it for so many weeks. Please don’t get out of 
patience with me for being so childish, but indeed I 


NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 273 

am so tired of everything that I feel as if I could 
not stand another day of this room.” 

“ I am not a bit out of patience with you,” the doc- 
tor answered soothingly. “ You need a change, that 
is all, for you have been shut up in this one room 
so long that it would be a hard matter for you not to 
feel pretty tired of it sometimes. Isn’t there some 
place where you can make a little visit for a week or 
two ? Even as short a change as that would do you 
a world of good, and you will be surprised to find 
out how it will brighten you up.” 

Miss Allison shook her head. 

“No, I don’t know any one who would want me 
to come feeling as I do now. If I were perfectly well 
and able to help around, I know of a place where I 
could make a visit; but I can’t go anywhere sick and 
weak as I am. I had better die, for no one wants 
me. I can’t do a thing to be of any use.” 

“ Of course you can’t just now,” the doctor an- 
swered. “No one wants or expects you to do any- 
thing while you are just getting over an attack of 
typhoid fever. Be contented to do nothing until you 
are strong enough for work. I know it is hard not 
to worry and feel despondent, but you must remem- 
ber it will take you all the longer to get well if you 
give up in this way.” 

“ If I only had mother ! ” and the tears began to 
flow again. “ Oh, I don’t see why she was taken 
away from me when she was all I had. I never 
wanted her more than I have this year. I was think- 
18 


274 Christie’s home-making. 

ing only a little while ago what a happy Thanksgiv- 
ing we had together last year, and now this year I 
am sick and alone and so miserable. I do miss her 
so ! If I had had an}^ time to be prepared for her 
going I think it would have been easier, but to have 
her taken away so suddenly was too hard.” 

“ You wouldn’t have asked to have it otherwise 
though for her sake,” said the doctor. “You told 
me then that you could be glad that death had been 
only a glorious translation to her, without any suffer- 
ing or fear of death. You would not have had her 
linger and suffer so that you could be prepared 
for the end, and it would have been just as hard 
for you now if you had had more time for prep- 
aration. I know how you must miss her, but you 
have a work yet to do in the world, and you must 
get strong and well so that you can do it. Her 
work was finished, but you cannot lay yours down 
yet. Try not to feel so lonely. Remember that you 
have a Friend close beside you who will comfort you 
as a mother comforteth her children if you will let 
him. Now I must be going, and I want you to 
promise me that you will try to keep up your cour- 
age and trust, though you cannot see the way just 
now.” 

“ I will try,” she promised, and then as the doctor 
rose to go, she said, “ Oh, doctor, have you time 
for just a word of prayer with me before you go? 
I am almost too discouraged to pray for myself, and 
I know it will help me to be stronger.” 


NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 


275 


“ Certainly I have time for that,” and the tender, 
earnest committal of the weakness and troubles and 
perplexities of the invalid to the great Physician 
quieted her throbbing pulse as no potion could have 
done. 

‘‘Thank you so much!” she said gratefully. “I 
ought not to feel alone in the world when I have 
such a kind friend as you are. I will try to do as 
you tell me, indeed I will.” 

“ That’s right. Now keep up your tonic, sleep and 
rest all you can, don’t worry, and you will soon be 
all ready to face the world again. I will tell you 
what I am going to do,” he added, as just then he 
saw Christie driving toward the house. “ I am going 
to send you a visitor who will be worth a whole bot- 
tle of tonic to you at one visit. I don’t believe you 
know her, but you will like her I am sure. I mean 
our minister’s wife, Mrs. Stanley. She is just the 
brightest little woman I know of, and her heart is as 
big as all out doors. She will come and see you, I 
know, if you would like to have her, and she’ll do 
you good.” 

“ I should like to have her come very much,” Miss 
Allison answered, and with a few last directions the 
doctor took his departure, and opened the front door 
just as Christie drove up, her cheeks aglow with the 
bracing air. 

“ I have been making a promise for you,” he said, 
as he got into the buggy and took the reins. 

“ What is it ? ” asked Christie. 


276 Christie’s home making. 

“ I have a patient in there who would get well if 
she could only be brightened up and encouraged a 
little, and I told her I would ask you to come and 
see her. I know you are a busy little woman, but I 
have always found that I must go to the busiest 
people if f want to have anything done, so I have no 
doubt but that you will find time to go and make 
her a little visit.” 

“ I should be very glad to, if you think I would 
do her any good,” Christie answered. “ Who is it, 
doctor ? ” 

“ I don’t believe you know her,” the doctor re- 
plied. “ She is a Miss Allison, a member of the 
Baptist church. She and her mother used to live 
together in that pretty little cottage that you will 
see when we turn the next corner, and they were 
very happy together. They took in dress-making 
and did very well at it, I believe. Her mother died 
very suddenly of heart failure about ten months 
ago, and since then Mary has had a hard life. She 
has missed her mother very much for one thing, as 
they were constant companions and very devoted to 
each other, and then she had to leave her home and 
board among strangers. It has been hard for her to 
get along alone, but she has been going out dress- 
making by the day, and earned her way until she 
was taken sick about two months ago with typhoid 
fever. It has been pretty hard for her there, though 
Mrs. Davies, the woman who keeps the boarding- 
house, has been as kind as possible to her ; but she is 


NEW OPPOETUNITIES. 


277 


a busy woman, and of course she had not time with 
all her other work to take very much care of Mary, 
beyond giving her her medicine at the right times. 
I was afraid she was not going to pull through, part 
of the time, but she is able to sit up now, and if she 
could only have a change would soon regain her 
strength. I wish she could go somewhere for a week 
or two, for she is tired of the very wall-paper in the 
room where she has been sick so long ; but she has 
not any friends to whom she can go in her present 
condition. She is alone most of the time, and then 
she gets to brooding over her mother’s death, and her 
own illness and the expenses which are accumulating 
of course while she is sick — all of which is very 
natural, but very bad for her. If she could only 
have a little change, even to some house here in 
town where she could have pleasant society and a 
little bit of home life, so that her thoughts would be 
diverted from herself and she would not feel so 
alone in the world, it would help her recovery along 
wonderfully. As she can’t have that, however, the 
next best thing will be for her to have a little so- 
ciety to brighten her up, and it will do her ever so 
much good if you can go out to see her. To-morrow 
is Thanksgiving, and of course you won’t feel like 
going then ; but the day after if you can arrange to 
go, your husband can come and get my horse to 
drive you out.” 

“Oh, thank you,” exclaimed Christie. “That 
will be very nice, for I was just wishing she was a 


278 


Christie’s home-making. 


little nearer at hand. I wonder if I have not seen 
her. Is she a tall slender girl, with dark hair and 
blue eyes ? I think I saw her sewing at Mrs. Bate- 
man’s one day when I went past the house. I looked 
up expecting to see Mrs. Bateman at the window 
and saw Miss Allison instead.” 

“Very likely you did,” the doctor answered, “for 
she does a good deal of sewing for my wife. She is 
a very bright, sweet girl, and a good Christian too, 
and that she is not able to trust in the Lord’s love 
and care for her is more due to her physical condi- 
tion than to her spiritual, though every now and 
then she adds that to her other worries. Poor child, 
I should like to see a good friend raised up for her, 
for a little human help and sympathy just now would 
go a long way with her. I am glad you are going to 
see her.” 

“ I will do all I can to cheer her up,” Christie re- 
plied earnestly. 

As they drove along the doctor told her more 
about the patient in whom he was so interested, and 
by the time he left Christie at her door she felt as if 
she had already become acquainted with Miss Allison. 


A FRIEND IN NEED. 


279 


CHAPTER XXX. 

A FRIEND IN NEED. 

Dinner was ready when Christie entered the 
house, and after they sat down at the table she told 
her husband all about her drive with the doctor, and 
about the patient he had gone to see. 

“I am so sorry for her,” she concluded. “ When 
a couple of weeks’ change would do her so much 
good, doesn’t it seem hard that she has no friend who 
could open her home to her? I mean to be real 
kind to her, and go to see her at least once a week 
if the doctor will lend us his horse. I am afraid I 
could hardly walk out there. To-morrow will be 
such a dreary Thanksgiving for her, for last year she 
was with her mother in her own home, instead of be- 
ing sick and alone. We shall have such a happy 
Thanksgiving that I can’t bear to think of any one 
being desolate and unhappy. 

“ Oh, oh,” she exclaimed a moment later, so eag- 
erly that her husband looked up in surprise, wonder- 
ing what had occurred to her so suddenly. 

“Well, what is it? ” he asked. “Out with it at 
once before your excitement is too much for you.” 

“ I have a perfectly splendid idea, if only you will 
think so too,” Christie answered. “ I am so afraid 


280 


Christie’s home-making. 


you won’t like it, because I know how you like to be 
all by ourselves, and I know it isn’t pleasant to have 
a stranger around ; but it would make me so happy 
if you would say yes that I really think you will.” 

“ I have no doubt of it,” said Mr. Stanley laugh- 
ingly. “ Perhaps I can guess what your wonderful 
idea is without your telling me. Do you want to 
invite Miss Allison here for a little visit ? ” 

“ You have guessed it exactly,” Christie responded. 
“ I know it seems a rather quixotic thing to do as 
long as I don’t know her at all, and she does not be- 
long to your flock ; but I think it would be such a 
lovely surprise to her to just be carried off to rest 
and get well here, and I should enjoy it so much. I 
don’t think I was ever more sorry for any one than I 
was for her, when the doctor told me about her, and 
it would make me very happy to help her get well. 
I do wish we could get her here for to-morrow. It 
would be such a pleasant Thanksgiving for her. Do 
you suppose we could manage it? ” 

“ Ask the doctor about it,” answered her husband. 
“ Perhaps he will not approve of having his patient 
moved yet; but if he is willing and thinks she can 
come to-day, I will gladly do all I can to help you bring 
her here without any delay.” 

Christie was so eager to carry out her new plan 
that she could hardly wait to finish her dinner, and 
as soon as her husband arose she put on her hat and 
went over to the doctor’s at once. He had just fin- 
ished his dinner and was going into the office, where 


A FEIEND IN NEED. 


281 


several patients were awaiting him. He saw Christie 
coming, and waited to speak to her. 

‘‘ Oh, doctor, could Miss Allison be moved to-day ? ” 
she asked. 

“ Moved ? ” queried the doctor, looking surprised. 
“ Oh, I began at the wrong end of what I wanted 
to say,” Christie said laughingly. “I ought to have 
told you first that we want to have her make us a 
visit of two or three weeks; and I thought it would 
be so much pleasanter for her to-morrow if she 
could be with us than if she were alone. If you 
think it would not be too much for her to be brought 
out this afternoon, I would go and see her at once, 
and bring her home with me before it is too late.” 

“ It won’t hurt her one bit,” the doctor answered. 
“ I can’t tell you how much good a little visit in 
your home will do her, but I do not need to try, for 
you will see for j^ourself. I will tell you what I 
will do. I must go into the office and see my pa- 
tients now ; but in half an hour, or three quarters 
at most, I shall be at liberty, and I will have the 
horse put to the close carriage and go with you. 
Is that too short notice for you ? ” 

“Not at all,” Christie answered. “I have but 
very little preparation to make. Shall I come back 
here, or will you call for me ? ” 

“ I will call for you,” the doctor answered, as he 
went into the office, and Christie hastened home, 
that she might go up to the pretty spare room and 
make the few preparations that were necessary, and 


282 


Christie’s home-making. 


tell Nora to light a fire that the room might be warm 
when her guest should come. 

“ Oh, Howe,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms 
impulsively about him, as he came in to see what her 
plans were for the reception of Miss Allison. “ Isn’t 
it the loveliest thing in the world to have a home 
like our dear little nest, that we can open to any one 
who needs a little bit of sunshine ? I do believe this 
will be the happiest Thanksgiving I ever spent.” 

“You are a bit of sunshine yourself, dear little 
wifie,” said her husband fondly, as he returned her 
embrace. “ It isn’t the home so much as the home- 
maker who is so lovely. I don’t believe anything in 
the world delights your generous little heart so much 
as making some one else happy. There comes the 
doctor now. I hope Miss Allison will be as happy as 
you are, for I don’t believe I could wish her any 
greater happiness.” 

“ I am sure you could not,” Christie answered, as 
she put on her wraps and went down-stairs. 

Miss Allison was sitting by the window, her hands 
folded in her lap, trying to keep her promise to the 
doctor not to work nor worry. It was a hard matter, 
for she was impatient every hour to test her strength, 
or rather her weakness, and when she found out how 
far from being able to work she was, it seemed 
impossible to banish the despondency which made 
her feel as if she did not want to resume life where 
she had dropped the threads two months ago. 

“ No one cares whether I live or die,” she said 


A FRIEND IN NEED. 


283 


bitterly to herself. “ I have not the smallest corner 
in any one’s home that I can claim as mine. If I 
could only turn back to a year ago when I had dear 
mother, and was so happy in our own little home ! 
It will be a dreary Thanksgiving for me, sick and 
alone, with no one to care whether I am happy or 
not. It is hard not to think that even God has for- 
gotten me, when I am so friendless and helpless.” 

She saw the carriage rolling down the road, but 
she little dreamed that it was bringing a friend to 
her. It stopped before the house, and she saw the 
doctor get out followed by a lady. 

“ Oh, he is bringing Mrs. Stanley to see me,” she 
thought. “ I am glad, for I think I shall like her. I 
saw her once, I remember, and she had such a pleas- 
ant face.” 

A few moments later Mrs. Davies ushered Chris- 
tie into the room followed by the doctor. 

“ We have come to carry you off,” the doctor said, 
introducing Mrs. Stanley to the invalid. 

“Yes, I want to take you home with me,” said 
Christie, answering the look of surprised inquiry 
upon Miss Allison’s face. -“Will you mind accepting 
an invitation upon such short notice ? ” 

A look of incredulous delight dawned upon the 
pale face. “ Do you really mean it? ” she asked. 

“ Indeed she does,” the doctor replied. “ I came 
to help her kidnap you in case you offered any resist- 
ance, so you see you had better surrender at discre- 
tion, Now Mrs. Davies will help you get ready 


284 


CHEISTIE S HOME^MAKING. 


whatever you want to bring with you, and I will 
wait down-stairs till you are ready to start, and then 
I will come up and bring you down to the carriage, 
for I am afraid the stairs will be too much for you 
the first time. When you come back you will be 
able to run up as quickly as ever — but I must not let 
you anticipate. Now don’t exert yourself getting 
ready any more than you can help, for you have the 
drive yet before you.” 

Kind-hearted Mrs. Davies was as delighted as if 
she had received the invitation for herself, and bus- 
tled about, getting Miss Allison’s necessaries together 
as quickl}^ as possible. 

“ 1 am so glad she is going to have a little change,” 
she said to Christie. “She has to be alone here so 
much, for of course I have to be about the house 
and can’t sit with her, and so she gets blue and lone- 
some, and frets — which ain’t worth while, if only I 
could make her think so. It will do her a world of 
good to be with folks and have something new to see. 
I was wishing with all my heart only this very day 
that she could go somewhere, though I didn’t like to 
tell her so for fear she .would think that I wanted 
to get rid of her ; and it wasn’t that at all, for she’s 
more than welcome here. There, I guess you won’t 
need anything else, and if you do you can send me 
word and I will let one of the boys take anything 
in to you that you find you need. Good-bye ; have a 
nice time, and come back real well.” 

The doctor came up-stairs as soon as Mrs. Davies 


A FEIEND IN NEED. 


285 


told him that the invalid was ready, and Christie 
wrapped an extra shawl around her lest she should 
be chilled by the frosty air on the way to the car- 
riage. 

“ Oh, r am too heavy to carry,” protested Miss 
Allison, but the doctor only laughed. 

“ Not a bit of it,” he said. “ I wish you were, but 
you will soon be less ethereal when your appetite 
comes back.” 

The excitement and the fresh air brought a little 
glow of color to the pale cheeks, and she looked 
very little like the despondent invalid of half an 
hour ago. 

Short as the drive was, it was long enough to re- 
mind her that her stock of strength was very slen- 
der as yet, and she was glad when the carriage drew 
up at Mrs. Stanley’s door and she was carried up to 
the pretty room that was such a delightful contrast 
to the sick-room that she had grown so tired of 
during her long weeks of illness. 

“ It is so homelike and lovely here ! ” she exclaimed 
gratefully, as Christie relieved her of her wraps and 
made her lie down and rest. “ I don’t know how to 
thank you.” 

“ Don’t try,” said Christie, quite as happy in see- 
ing her guest’s pleasure as Miss Allison herself could 
have been. 

The exercise and unaccustomed fatigue gave the 
invalid a more restful sleep than she had known for 
some time, and when she opened her eyes at tea-time 


286 


Christie’s home-making. 


to see Christie standing beside her with a neatly 
arranged tray in her hand, she felt as if she had 
gained new strength already. After she had eaten 
the carefully prepared meal, which was dainty enough 
to tempt the most capricious appetite, Christie in- 
sisted upon helping her undress and lingered until 
she was all ready for her night’s rest ; then leaving a 
little call-bell beside her, that she might ring if she 
needed anything, she bade her good-night and went 
down-stairs to enjoy the luxury of an evening alone 
with her husband, enjoying it all the more because 
she had the satisfaction of knowing that she had 
cheered and encouraged one who sorely needed human 
help and sympathy. 

It was not very often that the husband and wife 
could spend an evening alone together, for there were 
so many church engagements, calls that must be 
made in the evening, and visitors who dropped in to 
spend a social hour, that they rarely were uninter- 
rupted, even if they had expected to be alone. They 
enjoyed each other’s society so much that they looked 
upon it as a treat to have a little time of intercourse 
when the cares and duties of the day were over and 
they could feel free to take the time for pleasant 
chat. 

They were adjusting themselves to each other with 
very little of the friction that usually mars the 
smoothness of the first year of married life. Not 
that they never held contrary opinions, but each was 
willing to give up for the sake of the other; and 


A FEIEND IN NEED. 


287 


their love for each other was too tender to admit of 
the little discourtesies and thoughtless deeds that 
are apt to make the first rift within the lute. They 
were as studiously thoughtful of each other’s feel- 
ings and comfort as they could have been if they 
were almost strangers to each other, though too often 
it is the case that those whom we love best see that 
which is least lovely in us, and have their feelings 
wounded by our thoughtlessness or selfishness as those 
for whom we do not care never do. 

If either husband or wife failed in thoughtfulness 
or gentleness to the other, no false pride kept back 
a swift apology, and the wound was healed at once 
before it had time to rankle. Whatever made one 
happy rejoiced the heart of the other, and so Mr. 
Stanley welcomed their guest cordially because her 
coming gave so much pleasure to his wife, although 
it was a little sacrifice to him to have a stranger 
share in their home life for two weeks. 

Thanksgiving Day dawned cold and clear, and the 
bells which rang the summons to church waked joy- 
ous echoes in many a heart which had abundant 
mercies for which to give thanks. The day which 
might have been such a lonely one to Miss Alli- 
son was a happier one than she could have believed 
possible when she found herself a member of this 
pleasant home circle, cordially welcomed to their 
board and made to feel that she was an honored 
guest, as they indeed felt that she was, since they 
had the assurance that whatever they did for this 


288 


chkistie’s home-making. 


sick and despondent one in His name was being 
done for the Master himself ; and was it not a rare 
honor to bid Him to their Thanksgiving feast? “ In- 
asmuch as ye have done it unto the least of tliese my 
brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” 


RJiAPlNG. 


289 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

REAPING. 

Christie did not forget about MLss Nelson and 
her conversatien with her, and very often during the 
days which followed did she think of her and pray 
that she might be led to find peace. She had hoped 
that she might hear from her soon, but a week passed 
away without any word, and Christie looked in vain 
for her at Sunday-school. Her class was composed 
of little girls who had but recently been taken from 
the infant-class, and as no teacher had been provided 
and there was no one who was at liberty to take the 
class, the children were sent into the infant-class for 
the day. 

At first they were disposed to pout about it, for 
they had been proud of their promotion ; but when 
they found how different the room looked and how 
bright and interesting the new teacher made the 
lesson, they began to* wish that they might come 
back into their old class again. As Christie looked 
at their bright, intelligent faces she hoped more earn- 
estly that their teacher might be taught of God, so 
that she would be able to lead them in the right 
way. 

Her thoughts were so much with Miss Nelson 

19 


290 


cheistie’s home-making. 


that on Wednesday morning she felt that she could 
not wait any longer to see her, and leaving Miss 
Allison reading an interesting book in the easy-chair 
by the sitting-room fire, she went to see her friend. 

“ Miss Nelson is not very well and I do not think 
she can see any one,” the girl said when she opened 
the door ; but she went up-stairs to take the visitor’s 
name, and presently returned, saying that Miss Nel- 
son would be glad to see Mrs. Stanley. Christie 
followed the girl up-stairs and was ushered into the 
room where Miss Nelson was in bed, her face buried 
in the pillows. 

“ I am so sorry you are sick ! ” Christie said, sitting 
down on the edge of the bed and putting her hand 
on her friend's shoulder. “ Perhaps you were not 
feeling well enough to see me.” 

“ It isn’t that I am sick, but I am so miserable ! ” 
Miss Nelson answered in a voice broken with emo- 
tion. “I have been just as wretched as I could be 
ever since that morning I was at your house, and I 
feel as if I could not bear it a day longer. I feel as 
if I was too wicked to live, and I don’t know what to 
do. At first I thought I couldn’t see you, and then 
I thought that inasmuch as what you said had made 
me so miserable, perhaps you could say something 
to make me feel better. What shall I do? How can 
I find peace and rest ? ” 

“ It is so easy, dear,” Christie answered. “ ‘ Come 
unto me and I will give you rest,’ says Christ. It is 
just to tell the Saviour about your burden as simply 


EEAPING. 


291 


as you have told me, and he will lift it from your 
shoulders and give you the peace which nothing can 
take away. Don’t try to bear it alone any longer, 
but lay it at his feet.” 

“I can’t. I don’t know how,” Miss Nelson an- 
swered. “Nothing seems real to me except this 
dreadful sense of wickedness. It is as if I was in a 
black cloud and couldn’t see anything beyond it. It 
sounds so easy I know, but I can’t do it. I can’t 
pray even. I have always said my prayers after a 
fashion, but when I try to pray now, it seems as if 
they just fell back upon me. I don’t know what will 
ever become of me, for I can never be happy and 
careless again, and I cannot bear being so wretched any 
longer. I don’t know why I am not angry with you 
for making me so miserable. I always thought that 
there wasn’t any happiness in being religious, and 
now I have found out for myself that there isn’t.” 

“Dear, it is only because you have not yet found 
peace with God that you are so unhappy,” Christie 
answered earnestly. “ I know how miserable you 
must be, for there is no burden in the world as heavy 
as that of a sense of sin unforgiven. I know too it 
would seem easier to do some great thing to win 
pardon. It seems like such a little thing to just take 
one’s sins to the Saviour and ask him to wash them 
away that it is harder to do it than it would be to 
make some great sacrifice. When you have passed 
out from under the shadow of this cloud you will 
find how much happiness there is in religion. I can- 


292 


chkistie’s home-making. 


not be sorry that what I said has made you unhappy 
if it only brings you to the Saviour at last. Try to 
believe that he is loving you even now better than 
any earthly friend could love you, and that he is 
waiting to receive you. Tell him all about it, how 
hard it is to trust him and to go to him, but ask him 
to help you, and you will find that the answer will 
come very soon.” 

“I can’t believe it though,” was the despairing 
answer. “ Of course I believe in God. I never be- 
lieved in him as I do just now when T am so afraid 
of him and dread his judgment so, but I can’t 
believe that he loves me or will forgive me.” 

“ Ask him to help you believe then, since that is 
your first need,” Christie replied. “If you only 
could know, as you soon will, how infinitely tender 
his love is, you would go to him quickly and believe 
that he could lighten your burden at once. He has 
promised that he will receive all who come to him, 
and surely you can trust his promises Don’t wait 
any longer, but go to him at once with all your dis- 
trust and unbelief. If you can only say, ‘ Lord, I 
believe ; help thou my unbelief,’ you will find that he 
will come to you and strengthen your faith. Can’t 
you, dear ? ” 

Miss Nelson shook her head. 

“ I know how easy it seems to you, but I can’t. 
What shall I do?” 

“ ‘ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt 
be saved.’ ” Christie repeated reverently the answer 


EEAPING. 


293 


which brought peace to a despairing soul many 
centuries ago. * 

“ I don’t want to go and leave you until you are 
happier,” she said presently, stroking her Mend’s 
hair with a soft caressing touch that stilled her sob- 
bing. “ I wish I could do something for you.” 

“ Can’t you pray for me,” Miss Nelson asked in 
smothered tones. “If you believe, perhaps your 
prayers will be answered, even though it is of no use 
for me to pray. I can’t pray for myself.” 

Christie hesitated for just an instant. She had 
never prayed aloud before another, and she shrank 
from it with a shyness that those who are unaccus- 
tomed to public prayer will understand. It was 
only for an instant though, and then she rebuked her- 
self for allowing any thought of self to obtrude itself. 

It was a privilege that had been accorded her to 
bring to the Saviour another’s needs and burdens, 
and she was glad that she had learned for herself the 
Fatherhood of God, so that she could go to him as 
freely as a little child would go to an earthly parent, 
asking from him the priceless boon of another’s sal- 
vation. She knelt beside the bed, and clasping her 
friend’s hand in her own, prayed very simply but 
earnestly that peace might come to this troubled 
heart. 

Her voice trembled with earnestness as she real- 
ized how great a gift she was entreating, and as sim- 
ply as her friend had told her she told the Father 
about the unbelief, the darkness of doubt that held 


294 


chbistie’s home-making. 


this soul away from him, and asked from the Saviour 
the grace he had freely bestowed on her. 

“ Thank you,” Miss Nelson said, after a pause, 
when Christie had risen. I will try, indeed I will, 
and you have helped me ever so much. Your belief 
makes me believe in spite of myself. Must you go 
now ? Won’t you come and see me again to-morrow, 
please ? ” 

“ Indeed, I will,” Christie promised. “ And 1 hope 
that long before then you will have found the light. 
I shall think of you and pray for you every hour. 
Good-bye.” 

She could not be sorry that her friend was dis- 
turbed so sorely if the end would be a peace deeper 
and more lasting than than that of indifference. 
It was not when the pool of Bethesda lay calm and 
serene, kissed into radiance by the Orient sun, that 
the great work of healing the sick was performed. 
Not till the angel had stirred the tranquil depths 
were the wonderful cures wrought. So it is with the 
soul. Not until the Spirit troubles it, and it is 
stirred to its very depths, does healing come and 
the sin-sick soul find peace and rest. 

Many a time during the day did her thoughts and 
prayers return lovingly to the quiet room where a 
soul was settling the great matter of its eternal sal- 
vation, and she hoped the hour would soon come 
when Miss Nelson could say that all was well with 
her and she had found peace. Christie was wonder- 
ing whether she should not send a little note of 


HEAPIKG. 


295 


loving inquiry to her friend that evening when the 
bell rang and a letter was handed to her. She 
opened it eagerly as she recognized the handwriting 
and her heart throbbed with joy as she read, 

“ Dear Friend, I have found peace at last. It is all so very plain 
to me now that I wonder how I could ever have thought it hard. 
I want to tell you first of all since I owe it all to you. 

“ Lovingly, 

“Katie Nelson. 

Christie’s heart was full of solemn thankfulness 
that night as she realized that the seed that she had 
sown in weakness and trembling had borne fruit al- 
ready. Verily God’s word should not return to him 
void, and he had accepted and blessed her efforts to 
lead another soul to him. 


296 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SOCIABLE. 

“ W ELL, I suppose I shall see you at the sociable 
this evening ? ” 

Christie was taking her leave of Mrs. Wilson, 
upon whom she had been making a morning call, as 
she uttered these words. 

Mrs. Wilson shook her head as she answered very 
decidedly, “Indeed, you will never see me at a 
church sociable. It’s the last place I would ever 
think of going.” 

“ Why ? ” asked Christie in surprise. 

She had taken it for granted that all the members 
of the congregation would probably attend this 
gathering, the first one given since the coming of 
their new pastor. 

“ Because I think a church sociable is the great- 
est bore in the world,” Mrs. Wilson answered 
promptly. She was a bright little woman who usu- 
ally spoke her mind very freely, although she usually 
did it in such a pleasant way that every one was 
ready to forgive her when she disagreed with them. 

“ What do you call them bores for ? ” queried 
Christie, amused at the promptness of her answer. 

“ Because they are,” was the reply. “ I can’t 
see what people ever want to get one up for. Just 


THE SOCIABLE. 


297 


imagine it. One has enough pleasant social engage- 
ments without giving up an evening to a church 
sociable, anyway, and it is sure to be given upon an 
evening when something much pleasanter is going 
on. Then what possible pleasure can there be in go- 
ing over to the lecture-room and sitting there for a 
whole evening ? There are always so many stupid 
people who think they ought to be talked to by every 
one, whether they know them or not, merely because 
they go to the same church. One can see one’s own 
particular friends in a much pleasanter way than by 
going to a church sociable to meet them, and I think 
it is a great deal better to stay at home than to go 
and wish with all one’s heart that the evening was 
over. I am always particularly fated. Some old 
bore will get hold of me and I will have to listen all 
the evening to talk that isn’t of the least interest in 
the world to me. I really think it’s bad for my dis- 
position, for I either have to pretend that I am in- 
terested in it all, which makes me deceitful, or else 
I look tired to death and then people think I am 
rude and are offended. I have quite make up my 
mind that the place for me on the occasion of a 
church sociable is at home, where I will neither be a 
burden to myself nor to any one else.” 

Christie laughed in spite of herself. 

“ Don’t you agree with me ? ” asked Mrs. Wilson. 

“No, indeed,” Christie responded merrily. “Do 
you want me to convince you that you ought to go 
this evening? ” 


298 


Christie’s home-making. 


“I will promise you that I will go if you can prove 
to me that there is good reason for it,” Mrs. Wil- 
son replied. 

“I will do the best I can, then,” Christie said. 
“ You will promise, too, not to be offended at any- 
thing I may say ? ” 

“ Certainly. I give you absolute freedom of 
speech,” her friend answered. “It’s something I 
claim for myself, so I allow it to every one else.” 

“ First I will put you through a little catechism,” 
Christie began. “ I will just premise that these are 
not my own arguments ; they are some that I heard 
used to bring some one else of your way of think- 
ing over to attendance upon church sociables. What 
do you suppose is the object of sociables ? ” 

“ It is an attempt to have a good time, I suppose,” 
said Mrs. Wilson. “As long as I never have a good 
time when I go to one, but on the contrary have an 
unmitigatedly bad time, I think I show my good sense 
in staying away.” 

“ You mustn’t expect me to approve of your stand- 
point when I mean to make you change your mind,” 
Christie said. “Now I want to ask you something 
else. Do you suppose the sociables are planned just 
to give people like you, who have plenty of other so- 
cial pleasures, good times, or to put some pleasure 
into the lives of those who have not any enjoyment 
except that which they receive through their connec- 
tion with the church ? ” 

“ I never was concerted enough to imagine that 


THE SOCIABLE. 


299 


they were gotten up for my special benefit,” Mrs. 
Wilson replied, smiling. “ Still I hold that that very 
fact is all the more reason why I should stay away. 
They are not for my happiness, so why should I go ? ” 
“To add to other people’s happiness,” Christie 
replied, and as she saw an incredulous smile upon 
her friend’s face, she went on, “ Yes, I mean that. 
You know very well that you always add a great 
deal to the enjoyment of every social event, and I 
am not flattering you a bit when I say that you are 
the most popular guest in town at any entertain- 
ment. You can always make people have a good 
time when you try to entertain them, and it is for 
this reason if no other that I want to persuade you 
that you ought to go to the sociable this evening. 
This sociable is meant to bring together all the 
people in the church, and it is the same thing that 
a family reunion is in home life. It has always 
seemed to me that it gave the most pleasure to the 
plainer people in the congregation, who have not 
as many opportunities for social pleasures as some 
of the others, and it is sometimes the only oppor- 
tunity they have of exchanging a few words with 
the people whom they never meet in any other 
way. If those who are best fitted to give pleasure 
by their presence are the ones who stay away, of 
course the sociable is deprived of its greatest charm. 
Won’t you go if I put it in the light of self-sacrifice 
for others’ happiness ? I know some of the people 
to whom you could make this evening a delightful 


300 Christie’s home-making. 

remembrance for a long time, if you would only 
go and try to make them feel at home and welcome.” 

Mrs. Wilson shook her head. 

“I am somewhat sceptical yet,” she replied. 
“Whom could I make happy for instance?” 

“ You know that tired looking little Mrs. Harvey 
who sits three pews in front of you?” said Christie. 
“ I know she admires you very much, and she was 
so pleased that she spoke to me about it one day 
when you bowed to her going out of church. She 
said, ‘ She had such a pleasant smile that it bright- 
ened me up for all day.’ ” 

Mrs. Wilson laughed. 

“ That was the funniest thing. I knew the little 
woman thought that I was bowing and smiling to 
her. I had just caught a glimpse of a friend who 
was coming down the aisle behind her, and as I was 
in a hurry to get home and didn’t want to wait to 
speak to her, I just nodded and smiled ; and Mrs. 
Harvey, who was in front of her, caught the smile 
and imagined that I meant it for her. I thought it 
was not worth while to undeceive her, so I have 
bowed since, and she always looks so pleased and 
responds so warmly that I suppose I shall keep it 
up. That was the way I began it though. You see 
I don’t want aiiy credit that doesn’t belong to me.” 

“ You don’t know how much pleasure such a little 
thing gives her,” Christie said. “ She has a pretty 
hard time at home with a good deal of care and sick- 
ness, and the only break in its monotony is coming 


THE SOCIABLE. 


301 


to church. If it was merely a pleasure, I suppose 
she would think that she oughtn’t to take the time ; 
but as she considers it a duty as well, she feels that 
she must come whether she can spare the time or 
not. If she comes out to the sociable this evening, 
though I am almost afraid she will consider it in the 
light of a luxury and feel that she must dispense 
with it, it would make her happier than you can 
believe, perhaps, if you would talk to her for a little 
while and take some interest in her affairs. I don’t 
mean that you need talk to her about her troubles; 
it might be better for her to forget them; but just 
show her that you are interested in her as a member 
of the same church to which you belong, and that 
you want her to feel that she is very welcome at the 
sociable. Wouldn’t it be worth while to come just 
to make her have a good time, when she has so little 
to make life bright to her?” 

“ I suppose I am sufficiently magnanimous to be 
willing to come if it will surely make any one else 
happier,” said Mrs. Wilson. “It never struck me 
before that the chief object of a sociable was the 
dispensing of happiness to others. I can see that 
there might be some use in going under those cir- 
cumstances. Tell me some more work to do this 
evening, for it might embarrass Mrs. Harvey to find 
herself the sole object of my attention.” 

“You can find out the rest for yourself,” said 
Christie laughingly. “You won’t need my help at 
all, for after you have made Mrs. Harvey radiant for 


302 


Christie’s home-making. 


the evening you will find plenty of others in need of 
your kindly ministrations. I haven’t half argued 
the matter, for I should make a very poor lawyer. 
It is only your own kindness of heart that has made 
you so willing to go. I am glad that you will be 
there, for indeed you are one of the people who could 
least be spared.” 

“ How could I resist going after such flattery as 
that? ” asked Mrs. Wilson. “ Well, I will be there, 
since you have convinced me that it is my duty to 
sacrifice myself for others ; and if you can prove to 
me afterwards that it has done anybody the least 
good, I will promise to attend all affairs of the kind 
henceforward, even if it nearly wears me out to 
amuse the tiresome ones and make up to them for 
all their home discomforts.” 

“ I am not afraid of any such disastrous results as 
that,” laughed Christie, as she said good-bye once 
more and started homewards, glad that she had 
mentioned the sociable, since otherwise it might have 
lost the company of one who could not well be 
spared, she could add so much to its success. 


RESULTS. 


303 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

RESULTS. 

Mrs. Wilson was not a selfish woman, although 
she often tried to give people the impression that she 
was very fond of her own pleasure, and she went to 
the sociable quite determined to talk to those people 
with whom she did not, as a general thing, have 
much intercourse. It was a new idea to her, as she 
said to Christie, that a church sociable was for any 
other purpose than a place at which to seek amuse- 
ment for one’s self, and she had considered herself 
quite justified in staying away as long as she could 
not find enjoyment there. It was quite a different 
thing to go with the object of making others happy, 
and looking at the matter in this new light opened 
her eyes to opportunities that she had never seen 
before. It naturally gratified her self-love to know 
that a smile and bow from her was of so much con- 
sequence to quiet little Mrs. Harvey, and it was a 
very cordial greeting that she bestowed upon her 
that evening when she found her sitting alone in a 
corner looking rather as if she wished that she had 
not come. 

“ Good-evening, Mrs. Harvey. I am glad that you 
were able to come this evening,” she said pleasantly, 
as she seated herself beside her. 


304 


Christie’s home-making. 


Mrs. Harvey looked gratified and surprised. She 
had just been wishing that she had not come, as 
after she had been welcomed by the receiving com- 
mittee she had felt that there was no one there who 
cared whether she had come or not, and she thought 
that she might just as well have stayed at home 
where there was so much to do, with the big mend- 
ing basket overflowing with its usual amount of 
work, and plenty of other tasks besides. 

There was no one in the church that she admired 
quite as much as she did Mrs. Wilson ; and to have 
her sit down beside her and seem so glad to see her 
was a pleasure she had not dared to hope for. 
A little flush of pleasure spread over the thin, care- 
worn face, and her eyes brightened as she answered, 

“Well, I didn’t really expect to come; but my 
Saidie said, ‘Now you must make up your mind to 
go, mother, for you don’t ever go anywhere, and it 
will do you good and be a rest ; ’ so I thought I 
would come just to please Saidie, she urged me to 
so hard.” 

“ Is Saidie your oldest daughter ? ” asked Mrs. 
Wilson, rather for the sake of something to say 
than because she really took much interest in the 
matter. 

“ Yes, she is the oldest, and I often say I don’t 
know what I would ever do without her,” went on 
the mother, delighted to have a chance to sound her 
daughter’s praises to an appreciative listener.* “I 
can’t begin to tell you what a help she is to me in 


RESULTS. 


305 


every way. She is just like a mother to the little 
ones.” 

“ It must be a great comfort to have such a help- 
ful daughter,” said Mrs. Wilson. 

“ I do believe I would just give up in despair some- 
times, if it wasn’t for Saidie,” her mother continued. 
“ She is always so bright and so ready to think that 
everything will be all right sometime. What with 
all the trouble we have had the last two years, I am 
sure many another girl would have been quite dis- 
couraged, but she has kept cheery through it all. 
She was going to school and expected to graduate in 
two years, and then she hoped she would get a place 
to teach and help us that way with the younger 
ones, when I was taken sick with the rheumatism. 
I wouldn’t have taken her away from school, no mat- 
ter how much I needed her, for I knew how her heart 
was set on graduating with the rest of her class ; 
but one day when she had gone to school, after she 
had done all she could to leave things handy for me 
till she should come back again, I was lying in bed 
fairly crying as I thought of all the things to be 
done that had to be left to themselves, and wondering 
how I should ever get along till I got well, when 
I looked up and saw Saidie coming in. I asked her 
if she had forgotten something, but she took off her 
hat and put her books up on a high shelf and came 
over and kissed me. ‘ I am going to leave my books 
up there until you get well,’ she said, and though I 
told her I was willing to worry along the best way I 
20 


306 


Christie’s home-making. 


could so as not to stop her studying, she kept to her 
word and stayed at home all the rest of the spring. 
Of course it put her so behind her class that there 
was no hope of her catching up to them again. She 
tried to study a little in the evenings, but she would 
be so tired out that it wasn’t any use ; so she just 
gave up trying and gave all her time and attention 
to the house. She was the best little helper, and as 
steady as if she had been an old woman instead of 
just a slip of a girl. She doesn’t like house-work 
either, so it was all the more in her to give her mind 
to it as she did.” 

“ It was certainly very noble in her,” said Mrs. 
Wilson warmly, reproaching herself for having often 
thought of Saidie as a plain, uninteresting girl who 
did not seem to have anything particularly attractive 
about her. 

“She was delighted when it seemed as if there 
wasn’t going to be anything to keep her at home the 
next year,” her mother went on. “ She had the 
money all saved up to buy her books and her clothes 
for the year, for she got a place in one of the stores 
here in town to keep the books while the regular 
book-keeper went home on a vacation. J ust the day 
before school opened her father had a bad fall and 
was brought home looking like death. I told Saidie 
that it wouldn’t keep her home from school, for I 
could manage somehow with the help the little 
ones could give me ; but she said she had better 
keep on at the store a little longer and see if she 


RESULTS. 


307 


could afford to give the place up. If father should 
be sick a good while we might need the money. We 
none of us thought then that it would be over six 
weeks or two months before he would be able to go 
back to work again, but it kept him shut up all 
winter. The book-keeper never came back, so Saidie 
kept the place ; and though she didn’t get much, yet 
it was a great help when there wasn’t anything else 
coming in, and one time when her father needed 
some crutches Saidie went and got them with the 
money she had saved up for her books. This year 
there wouldn’t be a thing to keep her from going if 
she only had the books, but they cost a good deal, 
and it seems as if we couldn’t manage to get them any- 
how at all. Poor Saidie, she is so patient over it ! 
but it most breaks my heart to see all the girls get- 
ting ahead of her, when there isn’t one among them 
that is smarter, if I do say it, nor as good a daughter. 
She used to be so impatient if she couldn’t have her 
own way, before she joined the church, but you never 
hear her complain about anything now. Indeed she 
is the best girl that ever lived, I think, and I tell her 
some day she will get her reward for all her good- 
ness to me.” 

“ She is a dear girl,” Mrs. Wilson assented, touched 
at this little story of self-sacrifice and uncomplaining 
patience. “ It seems too bad for her to stay at home 
just on account of the books. Oh, I have just thought 
of something,” she went on, while her face lighted 
up with pleasure at the remembrance of a shelf of 


308 Christie’s home-making. 

school-books in excellent preservation which were in 
her sitting-room. “ Mrs. Harvey, I have a great 
many school-books, and I am sure some of them 
would do for Saidie. You remember I graduated 
here at the Academy, and some of them must be the 
same that are in use now. If Saidie would accept 
those she would be very welcome to them, and I 
should be much happier to have them of some use 
than just lying on a shelf. At the book-store down 
town they exchange books sometimes, and buy 
second-hand ones, so those that are not of any use to 
Saidie now she could have exchanged for newer ones, 
and I am sure that in that way she could have 
enough books for this year.” 

“ Oh, how nice that would be ! ” exclaimed Mrs. 
Harvey. “ Only I can’t help feeling as if I had said 
so much about them that I have sort of asked you 
for them, but indeed I never thought of such a thing. 
I only wanted you to know what a dear girl Sai- 
die is.” 

“ Please don’t feel as if you had anything to do 
with the matter,” said Mrs. Wilson. “ You have 
certainly given me a great pleasure, for I shall be 
delighted to be able to help such a brave girl through 
this year at school ; but if I had not just happened to 
have had the books your telling me about it would 
not have made any difference. Will you ask Saidie 
to come and see me to-morrow? I think she knows 
where I live, and 1 will show her the books and we 
will see what they will do,” 


RESULTS. 


309 


“ You are so good,” said Mrs. Harvey gratefully. 
“It will make Saidie the happiest girl in the world, 
and I believe it makes me just as happy as it does 
her, for it seemed so hard that after she had given up 
so much to help her father and me she should have 
to give up this year at school too.” 

Just then some friends came up to Mrs. Wilson, 
and quite satisfied with the smile she had brought 
to the tired face, she excused herself from Mrs. 
Harvey and went away, leaving the mother so 
delighted with the good fortune that was to come to 
Saidie that she forgot all the discouragements which 
had made her lot seem such a hard one only an 
hour ago. 

“ To think thafc it all happened because Saidie made 
me come to the sociable ! ” she said to herself. She 
was not left alone very long, for in a few minutes 
Christie saw her and came and sat down by her to 
hear how kind Mrs. Wilson had been and what good 
news was in store for Saidie. 

Mrs. Harvey was not the only one who was made 
the happier because Mrs. Wilson had decided to 
come to the sociable. The charm of manner that 
made her a welcome guest at any social entertain- 
ment was not withheld because the people upon 
whom she exerted it this evening were not her set of 
friends. More than one person wondered at her 
choice of associates this evening, and one of her 
friends caught her to whisper, “ Come and sit down 
here and have a nice time. You have fully done 


310 


Christie’s home-making. 


your duty now in attending to people whom yoU 
hardly know.” 

“I had an object in coming to the sociable this 
evening,” returned Mrs. Wilson, “and I have not 
carried it out yet. I will see you some other time.” 

“ What object can it possibly be ? ” her friend 
asked, but Mrs. Wilson only laughed, with a look of 
mischief in her brown eyes. “ I won’t let you into 
my deep scheme this evening, but I will tell you 
next time I see you.” 

There were several others besides Mrs. Wilson 
and Christie who did their best to make the plainer 
guests happy that evening, and it was not with any 
pretence of interest that they talked to them, but 
with a real desire to know something of those who 
were members of the same church and were of the 
same family in Christ. 

It was an unusually pleasant evening for all except 
the few who went solely for their own pleasure, and 
not finding just the set of friends that they would 
have wished to meet, were disappointed and ag- 
grieved. It had drawn the church more closely to- 
gether, and Saidie’s fulfilled desires and her mother’s 
pleasure in her child’s gratification were not the only 
results of that evening’s entertainment, although 
Mrs. Wilson felt that to have brought that look of 
happiness to a tired careworn face would have been 
ample recompense for her little forgetfulness of 
self. 


AtJKT JUDY’S MIITEF. 


Sll 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

AUNT Judy’s mitten. 

Christie had not forgotten to make use of the 
burned mitten which she had brought home with her 
from her wedding trip as a remembrance of Aunt 
Judy. She had told its story first at a missionary 
meeting in their own church, and then had sent it to 
her old home with the account of how it came into 
her possession. The simple story was read at a mis- 
sionary meeting at which there happened to be one 
of the Executive Committee of the Board of Home 
Missions. This lady asked if she might have the 
mitten with its story, and her request was willingl}- 
granted, with the hope that it might stir up other 
hearts to zeal in the Master’s service as it already 
had in two churches. 

Aunt Judy in her little cabin in the pine woods 
little dreamed of the powerful sermons her ruined 
work would preach ; and when the tale of her self- 
denial was told before a large city congregation it 
stirred the depths of some hearts that had never 
been touched before. 

The bank-bills that were dropped into the collec- 
tion basket were part of the harvest, but not the 
greatest part. There was one attendant at this mis- 


812 


Christie’s home making. 


sionary meeting who had not intended being there, 
and who had very reluctantly gone, because her du- 
ties as hostess compelled her. 

If you had asked her, Mrs. Sylvester would have 
told you that her heart and all her interests in life 
were buried in a quiet cemetery which lay restfully 
upon a hill-side just above the noisy city. First her 
husband had gone, and then her oldest child ; but 
still she had something to live for, for her youngest, 
her baby, needed her care, and through an unusually 
delicate childhood he absorbed her so completely 
that she had no time to spend in grieving for those 
who had gone. He had grown to be a tall sturdy 
boy who well repaid the love and devotion she had 
lavished upon him for so many years, and his com- 
panionship made her live her younger days over 
again in entering into his interests and pursuits. 

He had left her one afternoon full of life and 
health, with the affectionate good-bye which he 
never omitted, whatever his haste, and two hours 
later he was brought back to her drowned. It was 
little comfort to her then that he had laid down his 
own life in a brave effort to save that of another. 
There came a time long afterwards when she could 
be glad of it, but at the time she wondered drearily 
to what end* this precious life had been spared so 
long, since it was thrown away in a vain effort at 
the end. She wondered why she did not die of her 
sorrow, and others wondered too that she could live 
through a loss which seemed so great. She was so 


ATOT JTTDY’s MITTElf. 


813 


completely prostrated by her grief and she gave her- 
self up to it so utterly, that it did seem as if this 
heavy blow would fairly crush the life from the del- 
icate form ; but to her bitter disappointment her 
strength came slowly back against her will, and she 
found that she could not die in spite of her prayers 
and tears. Life could not be so lightly set aside. 
Her friends tried in vain to interest her in her old 
pursuits. Everything was so connected with her 
boy that associations made every occupation unen- 
durable, and her days were spent in nursing her sor- 
row. She went to church occasionally, but her heart 
was not in the services, and when she could she es- 
caped them. 

The annual meeting of a ladies’ missionary society 
was to be held in the church of which she was a 
member, and she was asked if she would entertain 
one of the delegates. Mrs. Sylvester could not well 
refuse this request, although she could not welcome 
any one who would draw her in the slightest degree 
away from her brooding and sorrow. She reflected 
that a delegate would not interfere with her liberty 
as an ordinary guest would, and she need not feel 
obliged to attend the meetings because she had a 
guest who would wish to do so. 

The name of the guest was sent her and she rec- 
ognized it as that of one of the officers of the society. 
It was with a desire to give this honored delegate a 
comfortable home during her attendance upon the 
meetings that she had been assigned to Mrs. Sylves- 


314 


Christie’s home-making. 


ter’s luxurious home, and if the plan had been car- 
ried out no doubt it would have been very pleasant 
for her. 

It so happened that a great many carefully laid 
plans were very seriously disarranged, or perhaps I 
should say rearranged, by the sudden and unexpected 
illness of the chairman of the reception commit- 
tee. She had expected to be at the trains and wel- 
come the newcomers and assign them to their places 
of abode during the meeting. She had been selected 
for this office because she had so much tact, and 
such a sense of the fitness of things that she knew 
how best to arrange the guests so that hostess and 
guest should be mutually congenial. It was a great 
disappointment therefore when this able manager 
awoke on the morning of the day for the arrival of 
the delegates with such a severe nervous headache 
that although she summoned her utmost force of 
will to the rescue, she could not raise her head from 
the pillow. 

“ What shall I do ? ” she moaned, aje she realized 
that all she had expected to do must be left to some 
one else. 

“ Tell me as well as you can what to do, Cousin 
Lettie, and I will meet the trains and send the dele- 
gates to their places.” 

“ But you won’t know who is who,” answered her 
cousin, feeling as if it would be a hopeless task to 
try to tell any one else all the hundred and one 
things that she had planned. 


AUNT Judy’s mitten. 


316 


“ I can ask them their names,” Jennie responded 
promptly, “ and at all events it’s the best thing you 
can do. Cousin Lettie, so you had better do it. The 
first train will be in forty minutes from now, so you 
won’t have time to send for any of the pillars in the 
missionary society and you will just have to put up 
with me.” 

“Well, I suppose it will be the best thing, as you 
say,” answered her cousin with a sigh as she thought 
how much better she could do this work that she had 
planned so carefully than any one else could with 
the most explicit instructions. She drew a little 
notebook from under her pillow with the names of 
the delegates and their hostesses marked down in it, 
and with a few words of advice in case of certain 
emergencies that might arise, let her cousin start off 
on her errand, and with a sigh shut her eyes and 
tried to forget the weary throbbing of her head. 

Jennie started off, determined to do her best, and 
thinking secretly that it surely could not be such an 
important matter as Cousin Lettie seemed to imagine 
to read over the list of names and send them to the 
addresses that were marked opposite to them. 

“ Why, it would be easier than putting sliced 
animals together, and I could do that when I was 
only a small tot,” she reflected. 

There were certain exigencies that might arise in 
the case of the delegates that had never arisen 
among the sliced animals, as she soon discovered, for 
when the trains came in and she began her duties as 


816 


cheistie’s home-making. 


chief receiver and director, she found herself becom- 
ing hopelessly confused. In some cases the dele- 
gates who had been appointed had been unable to 
come, and another had been sent whose name was 
not down on the list, and who seemed to get wholly 
mixed up in the assignments. 

Jennie was only visiting her cousin, and had no 
idea who Mrs. Sylvester might be, nor why Mrs. 
Tyler had been assigned to her. To add to her con- 
fusion of mind, there were two Mrs. Tylers who 
made their appearance upon the same train ; one a 
tall distinguished-looking lady, well-dressed, cul- 
tured, and with a certain air of self-possession that, 
if Jennie had known anything about it, would have 
marked her as the officer for whom pleasant quarters 
had been especially desired. 

The other Mrs. Tyler was a shy little country 
woman, “a character,” mischievous Jennie called her 
as she looked at the round innocent face, the old- 
fashioned dress, the prunella gaiters which seemed 
to mark a past generation, and the cotton gloves 
which bagged at the ends of the fingers and hung 
loosely upon the large hands that bore the marks of 
hard work in the swollen knuckles and large joints. 
It was evidently a very great occasion for her, and 
the fluttered air with which she answered Jennie’s 
questions showed that she was unused to travel and 
to strangers alike. 

It seemed so perfectly hopeless to try to direct 
any one who had no idea of the city, that Jennie in 


AUNT Judy’s mitten. 


317 


despair put her into a hack and directed the hack- 
man to take her to Mrs. Sylvester’s house, paying for 
the ride, with a little grimace, out of her own 
pocket-book. 

“That’s missionary money, anyhow,” she said to 
herself. “ I have a great mind to take that out of 
my next subscription, for I am sure it is real mis- 
sionary work to get that scared little woman to the 
place where she is going. I wouldn’t like to have to 
entertain her, but I suppose this Mrs. Sylvester is 
some good missionary worker who will like her all 
the better for not having a single idea except upon 
the subject of missions.” 

Having dismissed the cab she dismissed the dele- 
gate from her mind also, and she had no further time 
to think of her, for she was so busy all day that she 
had plenty- of opportunities to discover why her 
cousin thought it such an important piece of work. 

“ There,” she said with a sigh as she turned away 
after the last train had come in and all the delegates 
had been assigned somewhere, “ thank goodness, they 
are disposed of somehow! I have an uncomfortable 
consciousness that just as likely as not I have made 
a dreadful mix of the whole business and have put 
the round delegates in the square holes in some 
cases ; but it waS the best I could do, and angels 
couldn’t do more. I won’t tell Cousin Lettie my 
uncomfortable suspicions, lest it should completely 
prostrate her. It will be time enough for her to- 
morrow to undo my mischief if she can.” 


318 


chbistie’s home-making. 


“ How did you get along ? ” the invalid asked in 
weak tones, without opening her eyes, which were 
encircled with dark rings that showed how she was 
suffering. 

“ Finely, Cousin Lettie,” Jennie answered, keep- 
ing her perplexities to herself until her cousin 
should feel better. “ I have got them all disposed 
of, and two extra ones besides that made their appear- 
ance at the last moment. I have my suspicions that 
they only came down to the city to do some shop- 
ping, and as a matter of economy thought they 
would take in the missionary meeting so as to be 
entertained without the expense of a hotel bill, but 
we will see to-morrow. I may be doing them an 
injustice, so I will just step around to the meeting 
and see if they are there.” 

“Oh, Jennie, you make my head ache running on 
so,” groaned her cousin, and Jennie kissed her with 
a self-reproachful, “There, I will hush up now,” 
and went out of the room to rest after her day’s 
work. 

If her cousin had known that the shy country 
woman had been sent to Mrs. Sylvester’s elegant 
home, and the honored Mrs. Tyler had been quar- 
tered in one of the plainest homes that had been 
offered for the reception of delegates, she would most 
heartily have concurred in Jennie’s opinion that she 
had put round delegates into square holes ; but 
knowing nothing of the confusion that had been 
wrought in her carefully laid plans, she went to sleep 


AUNT Judy’s mitten. 


319 


thinking that in spite of her headache her work had 
been done. 

If she could have known the end of the story just 
then, she would have seen that the rearrangement 
of her plans had been ordered by higher wisdom than 
her own, and the results would be far better than 
she could have hoped fur. 


320 


CHKiSTIE'S H0]V1E-MAKI2^G. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

CONSEQUENCES. 

Mrs. Sylvester Lad been told who her guest was 
to be, and when the name was announced she went 
down to the parlor expecting to greet the Mrs. Tyler 
whom she had often seen and still more often heard 
about in connection with missionary meetings. 
Self-possessed as she was, she nearly started with 
surprise when she entered the parlor and saw her 
guest standing uncomfortably in the middle of the 
room, evidently too shy to sit down on one of the 
handsome chairs without a special invitation. 

“ Mrs. Tyler ? ” asked Mrs. Sylvester, with the 
faintest note of surprise in her interrogation. There 
surely must be some mistake in the name, for this 
was not the Mrs. Tyler whom she had been led to 
expect. 

“Yes, ma’am, that’s me,” said her guest with a 
queer little bob of a courtesy. “ It’s very kind in you 
to invite me to your house, and I hope I won’t make 
you any extra trouble. I hope you won’t make com- 
pany of me.” 

This was the little speech she had planned to make 
to her hostess, for she had said to her daughter be- 
fore she left home, “ It will be too bad now for these 


CONSEQUENCES. 


321 


people that are going to entertain the delegates to 
go to a whole lot of trouble and make great com- 
pany of us. I am going to tell them just not to make 
any company of me, but let me take pot-luck. The 
meetings will be treat enough for me.” 

When she saw the elegant Mrs. Sylvester, looking 
like a queen, as she told Almira afterwards, in her 
trailing robes of black, she did not venture to say 
anything about pot-luck, but she did carry out her 
determination to tell her not to go to any trouble 
on her account. Although Mrs. Sylvester was dis- 
mayed at the idea of entertaining a guest who would 
of necessity be very uncongenial, she was too much 
of a lady to let the slightest trace of her real feelings 
appear, and she tried to make her guest feel at home 
by greeting her as pleasantly as if she had indeed 
been the Mrs Tyler she had looked for. 

She looked forward to meal-times with consider- 
able apprehension , for what should she talk about 
to this guest who had no interest in anything that 
concerned her? She soon found that she need not 
give herself any anxiety upon this score, for her 
kindly greeting had made the shy little woman feel 
so comfortable that she never doubted for a moment 
but that she was as welcome as she would have made 
Mrs. Sylvester in her own home, and she chatted 
away freely, interesting Mrs. Sylvester in spite of 
her sorrowful preoccupation by the glimpses of the 
quiet, simple life which she unconsciously revealed. 
It was the first time she had been away from home 


322 chkistie's home-making. 

since the little trip she took with her husband when 
they were married, and that was “ nigh on to twenty 
years ago, now,” as she said. It was so evidently a 
most delightful occasion to her that Mrs. Sylvester 
rather forgot lierself in trying to make her enjoy it as 
much as possible. 

“ I suppose you are too tired to go out to the 
meeting this afternoon ? ” Mrs. Sylvester said, as they 
rose from the lunch table. 

“ Oh, no, I wouldn’t miss one of these meetings 
for anything,” said Mrs. Tyler, so energetically that 
Mrs. Sylvester congratulated herself that she would 
not have to entertain her guest that afternoon at any 
rate. 

“It must be a great privilege to live here in the 
city where you can go to so many missionary meet- 
ings,” said Mrs. Tyler. 

A faint smile crept over Mrs. Sylvester’s face. It 
had been so long since she had cared to go anywhere 
that it amused her to think of going to missionary 
meetings being considered a privilege. 

“ I am afraid it is like most other privileges which 
are so common one undervalues them,” she said. 

“ I’ll enjoy going with you so,” said Mrs. Ty- 
ler, looking at her hostess with wide open blue eyes, 
which were full of honest admiration of the slender 
graceful woman who was so different from any of 
the people that the country woman had ever met. 
It seemed like a little bit of heaven to be so gra- 
ciously entertained in such a beautiful house. If 


CONSEQUENCES. 


323 


Mrs. Sylvester had known it, it was the very bright- 
est time in all Mrs. Tyler’s life, and one upon which 
she never ceased to dwell, insensibly magnifying her 
pleasure every time she spoke of it, until it seemed 
almost impossible that she had ever really had such 
a wonderful time. 

Mrs. Sylvester’s face fell. She must draw the 
line somewhere, and with all her kind feelings to- 
ward her simple guest she could not martyrize her- 
self by going to this meeting with her. She had lost 
her interest in missions, for one thing, though there 
had once been a day when she had cared so much 
about them that she had consecrated her oldest son 
to the work of telling others the gospel story. It 
would be an intolerable weariness to go with this en- 
thusiastic guest, and listen all the afternoon to women 
who found keen pleasure in hearing the reports of 
work accomplished. She was not in accord with 
the spirit of the meeting, so she would stay away. 

“ I hardly think I will go myself,” she said, rather 
hesitatingly, for she did not like to disappoint her 
guest. “ I think I can direct you so that you will 
surely find the church without any trouble. It is 
not very far from here ; or better yet, I will send for 
a carriage, and tell the driver to wait for you, so that 
there will not be any possibility of losing your way.” 

A cloud of disappointment came over Mrs. Ty- 
ler’s face. 

“ I am so sorry you aren’t going,” she said. “ I 
thought it would be so nice and homelike to go with 


324 


Christie’s home-making. 


you, for I feel as if I knew you so well already, 
though I have known you really but a few hours. I 
want to go to the meeting, and of course I must go, 
seeing I’ve been sent to tell all the rest of our 
folks about it ; but it won’t be the same thing going 
by myself.” 

A sudden thought made her flush up to her ears 
with rosy color. 

“ I never thought,” she said deprecatingly. “ Of 
course you don’t care about going with me. I know 
I’m not like the folks you go with. I’m old- 
fashioned even at home, where they don’t pretend to 
keep up to the new ways ; and my daughter was 
saying this morning that if there had only been time 
she would have seen to it that I had something fit 
to wear. I will go by myself, but you needn’t go to 
the trouble of a carriage. I can walk just as well, 
and if I should lose my way, I dare say there’ll be 
plenty of people to put me on the right track 
again.” 

Mrs. Sylvester was honestly distressed to think 
that her guest should for a moment imagine that 
she objected to be seen with her, and when she 
found that she could not disabuse her mind of the 
idea by protestations, she promptly resolved to go 
rather than have such a suspicion have any place 
in her thoughts. 

She felt strangely out of place when she entered 
the church with her companion, where all was a de- 
lightful bustle of greeting and inquiry. Every one 


CONSEQUENCES. 


325 


seemed so happy, and all the happiness had gone out 
of her life. She had nothing left to live for now. 

It was almost time for the meeting to begin, and 
soon the grand strains of the old Coronation hymn 
echoed triumphantly through the arches of the 
church. 

Many an interesting meeting had been held in that 
church, but all agreed that this was one which was 
unusually full of absorbing interest. One could not 
be indifferent and unimpressed when such reports 
came from the outskirts of the work. There had 
been almost a Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit 
in some places, and there was not a heart in the 
house that did not thrill as the words of thanksgiv- 
ing and gratitude were read from the workers in the 
field. 

At last the secretary arose with her summary of 
the year’s work and the statement of its needs. 

“ I want to tell you what some of our gifts cost,” 
she said ; and holding up the ugly ill-shaped mitten 
with the hole burned in it, which had been dampened 
by Aunt Judy’s tears of disappointment, she told 
the little story of self-denial and self-sacrifice of one 
who might indeed have been forgiven for thinking 
that she had nothing to give, with a rare eloquence 
that brought tears to many eyes. 

Then she spoke of the needs of the work, of the 
necessity that was laid upon all to give until they 
felt it, until their gifts cost actual self-denial, if the 
harvest which was white already should be gathered 


326 Christie’s home-making. 

in. In one school the brave young teacher had died 
in the harness. As long as she could speak she had 
taught others the way of life, and when she realized 
that death had come so close to her that she could 
feel its chill shadow, she wrote home, not grieving 
over the life which had been laid down so freely in 
service for others, but exulting in the thought that 
she had been accepted as a worker if even for such 
a short time, and her only sorrow seemed to be that 
the work must be left without helpers for a time. 

“ Is there no one here who can give herself to this 
work ? ” asked the speaker. “ It is the most import- 
ant post, perhaps, of all our mission work, and every 
day that is lost may do harm that after labor cannot 
make up. That poor old woman in her desolate 
cabin has given royally. Shall we give less to our 
King? Is there not some one here who is fitted by 
nature and education for the work, who can come to 
the rescue in this hour of need ? ” 

At the close of her address she suggested a short 
season of silent prayer, that each one might re-con- 
secrate herself and her powers and possessions to 
the work which had such great needs ; and in that 
quiet time a new resolve stirred in Mrs. Sylvester’s 
heart which had been so benumbed with sorrow that 
she had had no room in it for any other interests 
since the grave closed over her boy. The work that 
she had considered her life work, that of training her 
boy to a useful manhood, had been taken away from 
her. Should she not give the remaining years of her 


CONSEQUENCES. 


327 


life to this work which needed helpers so much, and 
take up this new work which had been brought to 
her notice with such earnestness ? As she listened and 
reflected, with deepening interest, the plan seemed 
to promise relief to her burdened heart. The path 
of duty became clear. 

It was no sudden impulse of which she might 
afterward repent, but a solemn purpose, that made 
her pledge herself to work in that distant mission- 
field. 

Aunt Judy lies under the pines in that quiet for- 
est in Virginia, and her patient tired hands are at 
rest, but her work still goes on. The impulse which 
her self-denial gave to the work which she loved, 
although she knew but so little of its needs, will 
go on for years after she has been forgotten. It waa 
like a stone which cast into a pool of water makes 
ever-widening circles, until they reach the very banks. 
Only eternity itself can contain the ever-widening 
circles of an influence for good. 


328 


Christie's home-making. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

UNEXPECTED HELP. 

Christie found that it was a much harder mat- 
ter than she had supposed it would be to win any 
sympathy for the factory girls or any help in her 
plans for them. She found that the general opinion 
concerning them was that they were not worth any 
effort, and that hopeless of making things any pleas- 
anter, it would be a good thing for the town if they 
should leave it. Mrs. Bateman was in sympathy 
with her, as she always was with any plan to do good ; 
but Christie spoke to one after another about her 
desire to help the girls without receiving the least 
encouragement. “ If you only knew them as well 
as we do ! ” one lady exclaimed. “ You have only been 
here a little while, Mrs. Stanley, and so you have not 
had the experience with them that we have had or 
you would not want anything to do with them 
either.” 

“ I used to have a good deal to do with the girls 
who worked in a factory at my old home,” Christie 
responded, remembering the encouraging results from 
the work among the factory operatives in Weston. 
“ At first we had a Sunday-school for them down in 
Factory ville, as the place was called where most of 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


329 


the hands lived, and then we started a cooking and 
sewing-school, and they were both verj?" successful. 
I am sure it would be worth while to try to help the 
girls here.” 

“ I am ever so sorry to disoblige you about any- 
thing,” answered the lady, “but indeed I am 
thoroughly out of patience with those girls, and they 
have a better time than they deserve, I have no 
doubt. You are too kind-hearted, Mrs. Stanley.” 

Christie had quite determined that she would not 
be discouraged, if she had to work single-handed, but 
she was very anxious to have some help in the mat- 
ter, so that more could be accomplished than she 
herself could do alone. 

“ Perhaps the trouble is that I don’t go to work 
the right way to interest people,” she said to Mrs. 
Bateman, after a round of calls in which her project 
had been discouraged at every place where she had 
introduced it. “ I don’t know whom to go to for 
help now, and I have about made up my mind that 
I must go to work alone and depend upon you for 
sympathy.” 

“ I wish I could give you a little more substantial 
help than sympathy,” Mrs. Bateman responded. 
“ You know how impossible it is for me to under- 
take any outside duty, however. Now I am going to 
surprise you with a suggestion. Have you been to 
Mrs. Bush yet ? ” 

“ Indeed I haven’t,” Christie responded. “ She is 
the very last person that I would go to for help 


330 


Christie’s home-making. 


about anything. All her energies would be devoted 
to throwing cold water upon any project, and I can 
be sufficiently discouraged without going to her. 
She has such a very rough way of expressing her 
opinions, which are anything but pleasant usually in 
themselves, that it is a real trial to me to have to 
call upon her. I usually contrive to take Mr. Stan- 
ley with me for protection, fori do believe she stands 
a little in awe of him, though she delights in trying 
to shock him every now and then. Indeed I don’t 
think she has a kind heart at all, Mrs. Bateman. I 
believe it is just your own kindness of heart that 
makes you think that she has. I have never seen 
any evidence of it yet, and I must confess I don’t 
expect to.” 

“ You don’t know her as well as I do,” Mrs. Bate- 
man said, smiling at Christie’s earnestness. “ She 
can be just as kind as any one else can be, though I 
admit that she usually hides her better nature under 
a rough exterior. She is not a Christian, yet she has 
some humane feelings. I am sure she does not mean 
to hurt people’s feelings by her blunt speeches, but she 
is not very sensitive herself, and so she doesn’t know 
how her sharp remarks sting and rankle sometimes. 
I really think she would be inclined to help you in 
this matter, for I have heard her stand up for the 
factory girls quite warmly sometimes when other 
people have been blaming them. I would tell her 
what you want to do at any rate, and she can only 
refuse you if she will not help, and I fancy you are 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


331 


willing to run the risk of a rebuff if there is any 
chance of success.” 

“ Indeed I am,” Christie replied. “ I must admit 
that I don’t think that there is the least chance of 
success ; but just to please you — or shall I say to prove 
to you that I am right? — I will ask her to help me, and 
we shall see what she will do.” 

“ I hope that she will prove that I am right,” Mrs. 
Bateman answered, “ for I know that for the sake 
of having her help you would be willing to be proven 
in the wrong. I was so glad to hear from the doctor 
that Miss Allison is improving so fast — to change 
the subject a little. You were a dear little woman 
to think of asking her to come and stay with you. 
I did want to so very much, but auntie was not 
feeling as well as usual and I did not dare undertake 
the care of two invalids. I was worrying over her, 
and thinking that because the way was not clear for 
me to take her she would not be provided for in any 
other way. I forgot that she was one of the Lord’s 
children, and that he could provide for her without 
my help, though I wanted to have that privilege. 
That little change that you are giving her, the change 
from her lonely life in a boarding-house to becoming 
a member of a home circle for a time, is something 
that money could not buy for her. Even if some one 
had given her the money to go away somewhere for 
a trip, she still would have had that lonely, desolate 
feeling that she had no place in the world and that 
no one wanted her. I know what a pleasure it has 


332 


Christie’s home-making. 


been to her to have been invited to your home, and 
the very fact that you were a stranger to her and 
yet were so willing to open your home to her has 
been a very precious experience to her of God’s love 
and care for her. The mere gift of money to meet 
her needs would not have been half as much to her 
as your thoughtfulness and kindness. She is re- 
gaining strength and health now, and has lost the 
despondency which made her feel as if she could 
never make up for lost time. Money would not 
have made her as rich as her renewed ambition. 
There is a little thought of Ruskin’s that has often 
been a great comfort to me when I have been in- 
clined to lament that my sympathy for people in dis- 
tress could not take the form of money. He says, 
‘ It is not written. Blessed is he that feedeth the 
poor, but he that considereth the poor. A little 
thought and a little kindness are often worth more 
than a great deal of money.’ I have proved it true 
very often and I believe that people appreciate real 
sympathy and consideration quite as much as they 
do more material help, even though the latter may 
be indispensable too. At all events, in Miss Alli- 
son’s case you can have the pleasure of knowing 
that you are giving her something that money could 
not purchase.” 

“ I do not think that I have often had a greater 
pleasure,” Christie answered. “ She does seem to 
enjoy everything so much, and appreciates every 
little attention that one shows her. She is a very 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


333 


bright, companionable girl too, and I really enjoy her 
society. It worries me sometimes to think that I 
get the credit for doing a very kind thing when 
really it has only been a pleasure to me all through. 
I do hate to be thought good when I am only having 
a good time myself.” 

“ Well, your good times take a little more unself- 
ish form than most people’s,” laughed Mrs. Bateman. 
“ So you must submit to being misunderstood 
sometimes and overestimated. I understand your 
feeling about it though. I think that when we do 
things for the Master he always lets us enjoy the 
full blessedness of giving, which really is greater 
than that of receiving.” 

“Well, I must go at once, though it is always so 
hard to leave you when I so seldom have a chance 
for a little chat with you,” Christie said, rising reluct- 
antly. “ I will go and see Mrs. Bush before I go 
home, for I am afraid that my courage will fail me if 
I wait to think about it. I know I am a coward, 
but I am positively afraid of her, she says such try- 
ing things. I am always afraid that I shall either 
get in a temper or cry, either of which would not be 
very dignified for a minister’s wife. I haven’t much 
faith in her willingness to help either, or I should go 
more willingly, but I won’t give up without an 
effort.” 

“ I wish you all success,” Mrs. Bateman said, as 
she went to the door with Christie and saw her start 
toward Mrs. Bush’s house, walking along hastily 


334 chbistie’s home-making. 

as if she feared her determination might forsake her 
if she waited. Fortunately for her errand, as well 
as for her comfort during the call, Mrs. Bush was in 
one of the gracious moods which she sometimes 
assumed, and in which she was not at all for- 
midable. 

Christie broached her errand as bravely as she 
could, and asked Mrs. Bush whether she would not 
be willing to help in trying to start a library to 
which the factory hands could have access, and 
which would help them to some better and higher 
pleasures than they had at present. 

“ Well, I am glad that some one has waked up to 
the fact that there is a lot of home mission work 
lying neglected right here at our doors,” said Mrs. 
Bush energetically. “ When folks come bothering 
around me to go to the foreign missionary society and 
to give to the heathen I have no patience with them. 
I don’t believe in doing work a thousand miles away 
when there is plenty to do at one’s own door. I 
declare I believe there are as many heathen here to 
the square mile as there are in the Sandwich Islands, 
and yet because they are civilized sort of heathen 
and wear bangs and bracelets, no one seems to think 
that they are worth saving. I’ve always said that 
if the missionary society would undertake work that 
I could see any manner of sense in, I would be will- 
ing to do my share, and I mean to be as good as my 
word. I am glad that you don’t believe in foreign 
missions either.” 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


335 


“ Oh, but I do,” Christie exclaimed quickly, in 
haste to correct Mrs. Bush’s mistaken ideas concern- 
ing her views on the missionary question. “ I believe 
in foreign missions too. It is a case of ‘ This ought 
ye to do and not leave the other undone.’ I want to 
do the home work too though, and I think this is 
something that ought to be done.” 

“So do I,” replied Mrs. Bush with remarkable 
unanimity. “I have always said that those girls 
weren’t more than half to blame if they were noisy 
gadabouts. What else have they to do, poor souls, 
but walk around the streets in the evenings ? I dare 
say some of the people who are the hardest on them 
wouldn’t be a bit better if they had no better chance. 
Oh, it takes these good people to be real hard and 
uncharitable. I don’t pretend to be pious, but I 
believe I’ve got more charity for those girls than 
some of the pillars of the church have. They hold 
their heads too high to look at them, and don’t care 
what becomes of them. Well, what are your plans 
about the thing ? How are you going to get the 
books ? ” 

“ I thought it would be very easy to get enough 
to start with by asking each person to give one book,” 
Christie explained ; “ but I have failed to interest 
people as I thought I would, and I don’t know now 
just how to go to work. What would you do ? ” 

There was nothing that more delighted Mrs. Bush 
than having her advice asked, and as she was a 
shrewd, common sense, practical woman with a good 


336 


Christie’s home-making. 


share of worldly wisdom, her adyice was often very 
well worth asking. 

“ I’ll tell you a good way to start the library,” 
she said after a few moments’ reflection ; “ that is if 
your husband will go into it. You would have to 
make it a kind of church affair to make it go as it 
ought to. Did you ever hear of a ‘ book social ’ ? ” 

“ No,” Christie answered. “ What is it ? ” 

“ You have a sociable, with refreshments of course, 
and some other entertainment if you like, and the 
price of admission is a book. If nothing is said about 
the books, why folks are just mean enough to take 
some old school-books or directories and pass them 
off ; so it is a good plan to have the names of the 
books and their givers read aloud at the end of the 
evening. If people know that every one is going 
to know what they gave they will have a sort of 
pride about it, and will bring something nice just 
for the sake of their credit. Oh, you have to watch 
the charity givers, for they are just as tricky as 
other people. I have had experience with them, and 
I know.” 

Christie laughed in spite of herself. 

“Well, may be you think that it isn’t so,” Mrs. 
Bush went on, “ but I have had more to do with them 
than you have, and I know what I am talking about. 
Well, this is what I should suggest ; You get up some 
sort of a literary entertainment, and then ask the 
ladies if they will furnish refreshments for a sociable. 
Make a fuss over it as if it was going to be a grand 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


337 


affair, and get your husband to give it out from the 
pulpit, and I’ll warrant you that you will get enough 
books for quite a library. Where are you going to 
keep the books when you get them ? ” 

“ I wish we could have a room for a library,” 
Christie answered, really enjoying Mrs. Bush’s en- 
thusiasm. “I don’t know of any that we could get 
without renting it, and there isn’t any money yet for 
expenses; so I suppose I shall have to keep the 
books at my house, and let the girls come there for 
them, though it isn’t half as good a way as having a 
place for them where they could have a chance to go 
and spend a quiet evening in reading if they wanted 
to, and where they could go to get their books with- 
out being afraid of making any trouble. I am afraid 
that they won’t feel as free about coming to take the 
books out if they are kept in some one’s house.” 

“ No, you are right, they won’t,” said Mrs. Bush 
very decidedly. “ That way won’t answer at all.” 

“ What else could I do ? ” .asked Christie, rather 
dismayed at having her plan so decidedly vetoed. 

“ I’ll tell you what I will do, just for the sake of 
having things as they ought to be,” Mrs. Bush an- 
swered after a moment’s consideration. “I own a 
store down in that neighborhood, and there is a very 
decent loft over it that I only use to ^tore some 
things in that. I could keep somewhere else just as 
well. You can have that for a library and reading- 
room, and that will give them a place to go where 
they won’t feel as if they were in any one’s way, or 
22 


338 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


being watched and listened to all the time. Of 
course I don’t mean that they are to do whatever 
they have a mind to, for they are too wild to be 
trusted that way, and the next thing we would know 
would be that they were using it for a dancing-hall, 
with the books piled up for a stage for the orchestra. 
Then you would have the pillars more down on the 
whole thing than ever. We have got to look out for 
them. I suppose you are a pillar yourself, come to 
think of it,” she said, suddenly remembering that she 
was classing Christie with herself as being quite out- 
side of the list of ‘’pillars,” as she called them, who 
were the leading members of the church. “ Never 
mind. I’ll wager I was worth more than all the pil- 
lars put together in this case, wasn’t I ? ” she asked. 

“ Indeed you have been a very substantial pillar 
for me to lean upon in this emergency,” laughed 
Christie. “It is so good in you, Mrs. Bush, to give 
that room for the books. It will be just the thing, 
and I did so wish that we could have a room for 
them, and yet I was afraid to hope for it, it seemed 
so perfectly impossible at first. You are just as kind 
as you can be.” 

It hardly seemed possible to her that this was the 
same woman whom she had feared asking to help about 
the library. No one could have been kinder, and 
hers was really the first practical assistance that had 
been promised. If only every one else would respond 
as generously there would be no doubt that the 
library would be an accomplished fact. 


UNEXPECTED HELP. 


339 


“ If you will come up here for me to-morrow, we 
will walk down and look at the room and see what 
it needs to be ready for use. It has never been used 
for anything but storage, but the walls and ceiling 
are finished, and I think it is in pretty good con- 
dition.” 

Christie gladly promised to come, and thanking Mrs. 
Bush again very warmly for her kindness she started 
homewards, feeling very much cheered by this unex- 
pected help. 

She went a little out of her way to stop at Mrs. 
Bateman’s and tell her of her success. 

“ Well, how did you succeed ? ” asked Mrs. Bate- 
man, though she read the answer before she asked 
the question in Christie’s radiant face. 

“ She was just as kind and nice as she could be,” 
Christie replied. “ I don’t see what makes her so 
disagreeable sometimes when she can be so very nice 
if she only chooses to be. She has promised to help 
me, gave me some very good suggestions, and best of 
all has actually promised to give us a large room 
over a store in that neighborhood to use for a li- 
brary ! I had no idea that she could be so agreeable, 
and I don’t feel a bit afraid of her now. I suppose 
she will snap me up before long, so that I shall be 
just as afraid of her as ever, but I shall never believe 
again that she has not a kind heart.” 

“I am glad that I proved a true prophet,” said 
Mrs. Bateman. “ I was pretty sure that you would 
find her willing to do what she could, and I think 


340 


Christie’s home-makiisg. 


when people take it for granted that she will be 
willing to do her part that she seldom disappoints 
them. She is peculiar, I will admit. The simile of 
the chustnut-burr holds very true in her case. I am 
glad she is going to help you, for she will do it with 
all her heart as she does everything else.” 

Christie had begun to feel q^uite discouraged at 
her want of success, but finding this ally where she 
had least looked for help gave her new courage, and 
she went home to plan with her husband the details 
of the ^book sociable.” 


A SUCCESSFUL EVENING* 


341 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

A SUCCESSFUL EVENING. 

The Manse had never looked more pleasant and 
inviting than it did that evening when Mr. and Mrs. 
Stanley were expecting the Bible-class of young men 
to spend the evening. The boys had been a little 
uncertain about accepting the invitations which came 
to them through the mail, as carefully worded as if 
they had been addressed to any gentlemen in the 
place. 

It had been an agreeable surprise to them to re- 
ceive the dainty envelopes, and to two at least of 
the boys the invitation had the charm of being the 
nrst missive that they had ever received through the 
mail. 

“ I wonder what it means anyhow ?” queried Dick 
Ludlow, a rather stupid-looking boy, as he turned 
the letter over and over in his clumsy fingers, as if 
he expected to find something that would explain 
Mrs. Stanley’s intentions concealed on the back of 
the envelope. 

“It means that they want the pleasure of our 
society,” answered Ned Harman, a brighter boy, who 
was smoking a cigarette in a way that he thought 
was exceedingly mannish. “ It’s the first time I 


342 Christie's home-making. 

ever heard anything about the pleasure of my society. 
Most folks seem to think that it's anything but a 
pleasure, and are quite willing to get along without 
it. I wonder what’s up, anyhow ! ” 

“ The best way to find out is to go and see, I’m 
thinking,” said another member of the group, who 
had sauntered down from the pool-room when the 
mail was opened, more from the force of habit than 
because he ever expected or received any mail. “ I 
expect the parson can’t get at us as well as he would 
like to in Sunday-school, and so he thinks he will 
ask us to the house, and then he will have his own 
way with us.” 

“ Are you going? ” asked Dick Ludlow of the last 
speaker. 

“ I don’t know. I will go if all the rest of you 
do, but I surely won’t go by myself,” was the an- 
swer. 

“ It seems kind of mean not to go when we got 
such polite invites,” said Ned Harman. “We had 
better go, and then if we don’t like the way things 
are going we can leave. I don’t think Mr. Stanley 
is the kind of man to ask us there as if he just 
wanted us to spend the evening and meant all the 
time to preach at us. I like him, if he is a minister. 
I say give him a chance anyway, and let us see what 
he wants us for. That’s only fair.” 

“ I don’t say he means to preach at us,” interposed 
a boy who had not spoken hitherto. “But he’s so 
in the habit of it that I don’t suppose he can help it 


A SUCCESSFUL EVENING. B48 

exactly. He will begin without knowing it, and 
then we will be in for an evening of it. I say don’t 
go.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley would have been surprised 
and not altogether complimented if they had heard 
the discussion over the acceptance of the invitations, 
but at last it was decided by the majority that it was 
only fair to go and see what was wanted of them, and 
then if they did not like it they need never go 
again. 

“ I wonder what we ought to do about telling 
them that we are coming,” said Ned Harman, who 
had some sense of the proprieties which should be 
observed. 

“ Oh, they will find out fast enough when they 
see us coming,” Dick answered. “We will all go 
together and keep each other company.” 

All the boys agreed that they would rather go to- 
gether, as Dick suggested, and on the appointed 
evening they met at the corner of the street below 
the Manse and went along the rest of the way to- 
gether. They had no time to feel shy after their 
footsteps were heard upon the porch, for Mr. Stanley 
threw open the door without waiting for them to 
ring the bell and gave them a very cordial welcome. 

As they took off their hats and coats and went 
into the parlor, Mrs Stanley met them with equal 
warmth, and not even Dick Ludlow could doubt that 
his company was a pleasure to both host and host- 
ess. It was a very pleasant evening, and one that 


344 


CHUiSTIE^S HOME-]MAKIN(^. 


was a new experience in the lives of these boys. 
They were not used to being wanted, nor to having 
any special effort made to entertain them, and al- 
though they were, as Mr. Stanley had anticipated, 
almost too shy to feel fully at ease, yet the evening 
was one that would linger in their memories for a 
long time to come. 

With games, photographs of interesting places, 
and some music, the evening came to a close all too 
soon, and Christie’s cake and coffee were very much 
appreciated as the closing part of the entertainment. 
Miss Allison did her best to help amuse them, and 
before the clock struck ten most of the boys had 
lost the self-consciousness which had embarrassed 
them at the beginning of the evening, and were hav- 
ing a delightful time. They grew better acquainted 
with their pastor and teacher than they could have 
done in months of the formal intercourse in the 
Sunday-school, and on his part he felt as if he had 
learned more of their dispositions and of what 
they needed than he could have done in any other 
way. It was with genuine reluctance that the boys 
rose to go, and each one as he said “good-night” 
assured his host and hostess that he had enjoyed the 
evening very much. 

“ That was an experiment that I shall enjoy re- 
peating,” Mr. Stanley said, as the door closed after 
the last of the boys. “ It was work that paid, for all 
the stiffness and shyness that keeps me from getting 
very near the boys wore off, and I think I can teach 


A StrCCEJSSFUL EVEJNINa. 345 

them better next Sunday for having met them in 
this informal way this evening.” 

A week later Christie invited her guests. 

She had sent out her invitations several days be- 
forehand, and the girls looked forward to the even- 
ing with delightful anticipations, for Nellie had as- 
sured them that “ Mrs. Stanley was just too lovely 
for anything,” and they usually accepted her opin- 
ions without demur. Christie was very happy in 
the pleasure of her guests. There were some who 
would not have been prepossessing at all but for the 
interest she felt in them, but there were others to- 
ward whom she felt quite drawn and of whom she 
was glad to think that she would know more. Mrs. 
Bush had asked to come that evening, and some- 
what to Christie’s surprise the blunt manner which 
tried her so in that lady proved quite attractive to 
the girls, and they got on very well with her. 

Why, if those girls had the chances that our 
daughters have they would be just about as nice a 
set of girls,” she said enthusiastically at the end of 
the evening. “ I haven’t any patience with people 
who act as if they weren’t fit to speak to. I am go- 
ing to take hold and help you all I can in anything 
you want to do for them, just to show folks how 
much they are mistaken.” 

All that was best and most lovable in Mrs. Bush’s 
character seemed to show itself in her intercourse 
with these girls. She was blunt and outspoken it 
is true, but she did not say anything that was cal- 


846 Christie's home-making. 

culated to wound their feelings, and they received 
any suggestion she made to them in the kindly spirit 
ill which it was meant. 

“You have helped me very much,” Christie said 
when Mrs. Bush took her departure, after all the 
other guests had gone. “ The girls enjoyed them- 
selves ever so much more because you were here, 
and you have been very kind.” 

“ You are beginning to think my bark is worse 
than my bite, are you? ” asked Mrs. Bush good-na- 
turedly, for she had been quite aware that Christie 
had been half-afraid of her and that she had been 
considerably annoyed by her plain speeches. 

“ I think it is too bad that you try to keep peo- 
ple from finding out how kind you really are,” Chris- 
tie responded. “ I feel as if I was just getting ac- 
quainted with you, although I have known you all 
these months.” 

It really seemed to her as if she had made a new 
friend, instead of just having begun to understand 
an old one, for every day discovered to her some of 
the good points that lay hidden away beneath the 
prickly speech and blunt manners. 

The plans for the book social progressed vigor- 
ously, aided by Mrs. Bush’s practical suggestions, 
and Christie began to feel sure that it would make 
a certainty of the library scheme. 


FULFILLMENTS. 


347 


CHAPTER XXXVni. 

FULFILLMENTS. 

“ Everything has been as perfect as it could be,” 
Christie exclaimed triumphantly, as she looked at 
the table laden with well chosen, interesting books, 
which were the result of the book social. The idea 
of a book social was a novel one in Warrensville, and 
it had been presented to the people in such a way 
that they were all anxious to do their share for the 
honor of their church. 

It had been easy to provide the entertainment, for 
there was plenty of local talent in the place, and 
they were very willing to volunteer. A sociable was 
a pleasant event, and the ladies were quite ready to 
provide refreshments, and no one felt burdened by 
the obligation to bring a book when such a pleasant 
evening was anticipated. 

It had been a thoroughly successful evening, not 
only as far as the donation of books was concerned, 
but in the matter of enjoyment, and Christie was 
too delighted at its conclusion to remember that she 
was very tired. Mrs. Bush had been almost equally 
pleased, especially as the suggestion had been hers, 
and when she bade Christie good-night she told her 
that they would soon get to work now, fixing up the 
loft for a pleasant reading-room. 


348 Christie's home-marikg. 

The very next morning she came with the key, 
attended by a man to lift the heavy articles that had 
been stored there, and Christie went with her to the 
room. It was a very large well-lighted room, with a 
good floor and rough flnished walls, which Mrs. 
Bush said she would have painted, as a painter had 
been owing her a year’s rent for a long time, and she 
would be glad to have a chance to have him work it 
out as well as to make the room more inviting. The 
floor was to be stained a dark brown, and a very 
plain but serviceable table was made by putting long 
boards upon trestles and fastening them in position. 
The rough appearance of this table was concealed by 
a red canton flannel covering, Christie went to her 
tenth-box to procure. 

The shelves upon which the books were to be 
kept until book-cases could be provided were plain 
pine boards, which received a coat of walnut stain, 
and simple turkey red curtains served the double 
purpose of keeping the dust from the books and mak- 
ing a cheery bit of color in the room. Various odd 
chairs had been begged for the room, and with these 
and a hanging lamp the furnishing had to stop, since 
Christie’s purse was empty and her resources ex- 
hausted. 

Very much to her surprise the girls themselves 
came to the rescue* She would have been glad to 
give the room a really homelike and tasteful appear- 
ance, so that it would be an inviting place in which 
to pass the evenings, but she had to be content with 


FULFILLMENTS. 


349 


only necessaries. She told Nellie Lewis how much 
more she would have liked to add to the room be- 
fore she opened it for the girls, and she was surprised 
and delighted when Nellie assured her that they 
would be very willing to do their part, and could 
easily afford to club together and buy some of the 
other things now that the main essentials had been 
provided. 

The question of who should be put in charge was 
rather a puzzling one, as Christie agreed with Mrs. 
Bush that it would hardly be wise to leave them en- 
tirely to themselves, without the restraint of any 
older person, and yet it would be a great burden to 
any one who was not very much interested in the 
girls to be obliged to spend her evenings there. It 
would spoil the pleasure of the girls, as well, to feel 
that they were being watched ; and just as Christie 
was beginning to grow really anxious over the mat- 
ter it was happily decided for her. Mrs. Rowan 
offered to stay in the room in the evenings, assuring 
her that she would not feel it too great a task, and 
would be glad to do that much for the girls, whom 
she really desired to help. 

Nothing could have been better than this arrange- 
ment, for the girls felt that she was one of them- 
selves and would not have the same feeling toward 
her that they would have toward a stranger, and 
she would only be a restraint when restraint was 
needed, instead of interfering with the freedom of 
the room. 


350 Christie’s home-making. 

“We have nothing to do in the evenings after 
eight o’clock, so my husband and I will enjoy going 
around to the room, and the girls won’t mind me as 
they would any one else.” 

The question thus happily settled, there was no 
further perplexity about the room, and it was given 
over for the girls’ use. They decided that they would 
prefer to organize a society among themselves and 
collect dues for the use of the library, using this 
money for whatever might be needed in the room. 
They seemed so satisfied with this plan that Christie 
assented to it willingly, though it had at first been 
her idea to have the library a free gift to the girls. 
There was a great deal more that she would have 
liked to do for them, but she could only hope that 
in the future she might see paths opening for more 
extended usefulness among them. 

There were some things that she could do by quiet 
personal influence, and whenever she could spare the 
time from her home duties she went among the 
girls, to show them that she was their friend and 
wanted to help them make the best of themselves. 

Mrs. Bush was almost as warm a friend of the 
factory girls as Christie herself, and she was always 
glad of an opportunity to help them in any way. 
She was growing somewhat gentler, and in her admi- 
ration for her real generosity and kindness of heart, 
Christie could overlook the things that had grated 
upon her almost intolerably at first. 

She enjoyed her own home all the more because 


FULFILLMENTS. 


351 


she had done something to make these homeless 
girls happier, and once a month she opened her doors 
to them and welcomed them cordially to all that was 
best and brightest in her home. Even in the brief 
intercourse that they had with her they learned that 
there was a better and a higher plane of living than 
any to which they had risen in the past, and almost 
insensibly to themselves they entertained higher 
ideals and were less noisy and coarse in their man- 
ners. 

Nellie Lewis’s heart had been won, and the proud, 
wilful girl was willing to let Christie mould her as 
she would. It seemed such a wonderful thing to 
her that any one whom she admired as much as she 
did the minister’s young wife should actually care 
to have her, one of the factory girls, for a friend, and 
should want to help her. She was an impulsive girl, 
and she loved Christie with all her heart. Chris- 
tie’s slightest suggestion was eagerly carried out and 
her wishes were gratified as soon as they were 
expressed, for Nellie delighted in opportunities of 
showing her devotion. 

It was Christie’s great wish that her first love 
might be given to a Friend who was kinder than any 
human friend could ever be, but she felt that she 
must only guide the impetuous girl in the right direc- 
tion without urging her to come to a decision to be 
a Christian, lest.in her eagerness to gratify her friend 
she should want to unite with the church without 
having given her heart to the Saviour. Christie 


352 


chkistie’s home -making. 


felt sure that sh© would do good work among her 
companions if she once became a Christian, and she 
prayed earnestly for her that the day might soon 
come when she would be drawn to Christ by the 
constraining power of his love. 

Mrs. Bush was drawing nearer to the kingdom, 
and it seemed as if she was becoming permeated 
with the “ charity which suffers long and is kind,” 
and which “ thinketh no evil,” and in trying to help 
others was being brought nearer to Christ herself. 

Christie found her heart and hands full to over- 
flowing with all her work, while she was- continually 
tempted to undertake new duties because she saw so 
many opportunities around her. 

“ There is so much to do ! ” she sighed to herself, 
half wearily, as she exerted every power of mind 
and body to do all that she had pledged herself to 
accomplish. 


MISTAKES. 


353 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

MISTAKES. 

“ Oh, dear, I never knew anything so provoking,” 
sighed Christie. “ Everything all seems to come at 
once lately. I declare I don’t know what to do nor 
what to leave undone.” Her usually sunny face was 
clouded over, and she looked as if tears were very 
near her eyes. It was Monday, to begin with, and it 
had brought with it all the extra work that gener- 
ally follows the rest of Sunday. The dishes stood 
upon the table as they had been left after breakfast, 
the clothes were in the tubs soaking, the fire was 
nearly out, and the clock pointed to the hour of 
twelve. 

Christie always cleared up the table Monday morn- 
ings, washed the dishes, prepared the lunch, and did 
the thousand and one little things that fall to a house- 
keeper’s lot on this day of the week. But since 
Miss Allison had been staying with her she had 
insisted upon relieving Christie of her Monday morn- 
ing cares, and she was very glad to relinquish them, 
as she always had on hand enough outside work to 
fully occupy her time. 

This was the first Monday she had been without 
Miss Allison, and she had not realized how much she 
23 


354 


cheistie’s home-making. 


would miss her. There had been certain arrange- 
ments about the girls’ room that she wanted to 
attend to, and although it was work that she could 
have just as well have deferred to another day, yet 
she was so interested in it and so eager to attend to 
it that she went out as soon as breakfast was over 
and Howe had gone to his study, telling herself that 
she could do her household duties when she came 
back, for she would have plenty of time before the 
noonday meal. 

She stayed longer than she expected to, and when 
she came home she was astonished and discouraged 
to find everything in chaos, and no sign of Hannah, 
the little maid of all work. She called her once or 
twice, suspecting that she might be standing out by 
the fence gossiping with one of the neighbor’s girls, 
a proceeding of which she had sometimes been guilty. 

There was no answer, and going to the back door 
and looking out, Christie saw that she was not in 
the yard. 

“ I wonder if she is sick,” thought Christie, sud- 
denly remembering that Hannah had been unusually 
pale that morning. She went up to her room, and 
found her in bed suffering from a severe sick head- 
ache. She had had such headaches before, and 
Christie knew that she would probably not be able 
to leave her bed that day, so she applied the usual 
remedies and went down-stairs again, leaving Han- 
nah to sleep it off, while she tried to bring order out 
of chaos. 


MISTAKES. 


356 


There was so much to do that Christie wondered 
forlornly where she should begin. She was tired 
from her exertions of the day before, for teaching 
the Sunday-school class was not a small matter and 
she always put her whole heart and soul into it, and 
although she was not aware of it, she had been over- 
taxing her strength for some time and was feeling a 
languor and indisposition to exertion that was very 
new to her. If she had known that Hannah was 
going to be sick she would not have gone out, and 
then by this time all her own work would have been 
done, and she could have done some of what Hannah 
had left undone without being hurried. 

“ I suppose I had better get the fire started so that 
I can get dinner,” she said at last, rousing herself 
to action, and going out into the kitchen she donned 
a large gingham apron and went to work. 

Every housekeeper knows how a kitchen stove 
can seem to exhibit as great depravity as if it was a 
reasonable being. It was all in vain that Christie 
poked it, and encouraged it with chips, and opened 
the draughts, and did everything she could to coax 
the fire to burn. It only smouldered, and would not 
give the least promise of burning up so that it would 
be ready for cooking. 

Christie burned her hand with the hot lid as she 
was taking it off, and this seemed to her the crown- 
ing disaster of the day. She stopped everything else 
to wrap it up in a large bandage, that by its size 
represented the amount of discomfort the burn caused 


356 


Christie’s home-making. 


her, and felt as if it ought to honorably exempt her 
from further household duty. 

She envied Hannah in bed, even if she did have a 
headache. She was so tired and discouraged that 
she felt as if she would be willing to have a bad 
headache, if only she might rest. 

“ There is nothing to do but to start this fire all 
over again,” she decided at last ; and after twenty 
minutes’ work she had a brisk clear fire. 

It was almost the dinner hour, and not the first 
preparations for dinner had been made beyond start- 
ing the fire. Christie was fretted by the remem- 
brance that she had left her bedroom to be attended 
to after she should come home, and she was too good 
a housekeeper not to be worried over the thought of 
an untidy room at that hour in the day. 

“What shall I do first? ’’she cried again in de- 
spair, wishing that Howe was going out to dinner, so 
that she would not have to prepare the noonday meal 
in addition to everything else. 

Evidently the dinner came first on the list of 
necessary things to be done, so she carried the dishes 
that had been used at breakfast out into the kitchen, 
resolving to leave them till afterwards, and began 
her preparations for the meal. Her thoughts were 
not pleasant ones as she prepared the vegetables. 
She did not realize at all that this growing depres- 
sion that was so apt to hang about her, except just 
when she was elated over some success in her work, 
was the result of over- wrought nerves, and that she 


MISTAKES. 357 

had undertaken more than her strength would 
allow. 

Just now she put her depression down to the fail- 
ure to do all that she wanted to, and she had so 
many plans that she wanted to undertake and that 
she was sure would be successful and do good, that 
she almost wished that she and Howe were boarding 
again, so that she might have all her time to work 
in the church. 

Everything had gone so smoothly at first in their 
home life, but of late there had been very much that 
she was not satisfied with. The exquisite neatness 
that had been a part of Christie’s life and had char- 
acterized all her belongings was slowly vanishing, 
and she had begun to slight little things, as she 
found herself pressed for time to accomplish all that 
she had undertaken. 

More than that, she imagined that Hannah was be- 
coming careless, for the meals were not cooked and 
served as nicely as they had been at first, and Chris- 
tie forgot that lately she had been so preoccupied 
that she had not looked after Hannah as she used to, 
and so it was only a natural consequence that every- 
thing showed the lack of the mistress’s supervision. 
Everything was going wrong, and Christie felt as if 
she would heartily enjoy a good cry, if she only had 
time to take it. 

It was quarter past the usual dinner hour when 
Howe came down from his study, wondering that he 
had not been summoned before by the ringing of the 


358 


Christie’s home- making. 


dinner-bell. He cast a glance into the untidy bed- 
room as he passed by the open door, and the sight 
did not tend to soothe him. It had been a trying 
morning for Howe. He was always apt to feel a 
little reaction upon Monday morning from Sunday’s 
strain, and the day before he had done more than 
usual, for he had taken a class in Sunday-school 
whose teacher was away, and had conducted a young 
people’s prayer-meeting which he had lately organ- 
ized. Besides the added fatigue, he had fallen into 
the hands of one of those well-meaning but exasper- 
ating persons who think it is their duty to tell their 
minister w^here he has failed, and the criticisms upon 
his manner of delivery, which Howe could not really 
feel were just, had nettled him and made him feel 
disposed to be irritable. He had wanted Christie’s 
help during the morning, and coming down-stairs to 
find her, had found the house apparently given over 
to disorder — no Hannah and no Christie to be seen. 

When he came down-stairs and found dinner late, 
the morning work undone, and Christie flushed and 
disconsolate in the kitchen with the breakfast dishes 
piled up on the table, while there was every indica- 
tion that the meal would not be ready for some time 
yet, he did not feel in the mood to encourage her, as 
he would generally have done, but was under the 
impression that this was a legitimate occasion upon 
which to find fault. 

“Are we going to have any dinner to-day?” he 


MISTAKES. 


359 


asked with that air of a long-suffering martyr that 
is always trying to the best tempered of people. 

If Christie had been in her usual frame of mind 
she would not have resented the query, but it just 
completed her annoyance. 

“ If I can ever get it ready,” she answered with a 
tartness in her tone that Howe had never heard 
before. 

“ Where’s Hannah ? ” he inquired. 

“ Sick,” was Christie’s laconic answer. 

“ Oh, I didn’t know but that she might have some 
more important business on hand than attending to 
getting dinner,” Howe answered. “Housekeeping 
seems to be the last thing that gets any attention in 
this house. Is there anything that I can do to hasten 
the prospect of dinner ? ” 

“ If you will go away and let me alone, perhaps I 
will get it ready some time,” Christie retorted, and 
then as Howe took her at her word and walked out 
of the kitchen, she burst into tears. 

She felt hurt to the very depths of her heart. It 
was the first time that things had been in such a 
forlorn condition and really afforded any great room 
for fault-finding, and that Howe had been so ready 
to blame her showed that he could not love her very 
much after all, she reasoned. He had not noticed 
the bandage upon her hand nor asked if she had 
hurt it. Christie felt as if she could never forget his 
indifference to her troubles, and the fact that when 
he might have condoned a little, he had been so ready 


360 Christie’s home-making. 

to blame. Strange perversity of human nature, to 
grieve those who love us best, and doubt their love ! 
She forgot that he did not know that she had 
fully expected to get home in time to do all her 
usual tasks before dinner, and Hannah’s sudden ill- 
ness had been the principal thing that had upset all 
her plans and put everything behindhand so much. 
When people are out of humor they never remember 
any of the extenuating circumstances for another’s 
misdeeds, and so as Howe and Christie were both 
predisposed to ill temper, they were neither of them 
in the mood to make any allowances for each other. 

“ The more haste the less speed.” 

Christie realized the truth of this old adage as she 
tried to hurry the dinner. When she put it on the 
table she was painfully aware that there was very 
much to be apologized for. The steak was scorched, 
the potatoes were not quite done, and there was not 
anything upon the table in its best condition. 

Christie put it on, surveyed it gloomily, rang the 
dinner-bell, and then went up-stairs and threw her- 
self down upon the bed and indulged in a hearty 
cry. Everything had gone wrong, and there was no 
use trying to make anything any better, for Howe 
did not love her and she should never be happy 
again I 


EXPLANATIONS. 


361 


CHAPTER XL. 

EXPLANATIONS. 

It was so unfortunate that their first quarrel 
should have come at a time when neither of them 
was in a frame of mind to make any excuse for the 
other or take the first step toward healing the 
breach. Howe came down-stairs to find the table 
deserted, and after waiting some time for Christie to 
make her appearance, concluded that she did not 
mean to come down, and began to eat his lonely 
meal in a decidedly bad humor. I am afraid in his 
frame of mind it would really have been a disap- 
pointment to him to find that there was nothing to 
complain of in the dinner. It was a sort of gratifi- 
cation to pronounce that the dinner was not fit to 
eat, and he pushed his plate back with his uneaten 
meal upon it and left the table feeling that he had 
been very badly treated. 

He had some calls to make, and feeling too vexed 
to want to find Christie and make any atonement for 
his part in the quarrel, he put on his hat and went 
out, shutting the door with an emphasis that might 
justly be called a slam. 

Christie heard the sound in her room, and went to 
the window and looked out. Perhaps he would turn 


362 


Christie’s home-making. 


back before he reached the gate. It surely could 
not be possible that he would go out and leave her 
crying, when he had been so unkind to her. 

He had really gone, though Christie watched him 
with the faint hope in her heart that he would turn 
back until he had turned the corner. Then she was 
too angry to want him to turn back, and drying her 
eyes, which were too hot for tears now, she began to 
do her work, half feeling as if she could never love 
Howe again, since he was so selfish and so thought- 
less of her feelings. 

Very wrong ? Yes, they were both very wrong, but 
they were only human beings, who were full of faults, 
and that they did not fail more often showed how 
hard they tried to do right. 

It was a bright winter’s day, but to Howe and 
Christie both the sun had gone under a cloud from 
which it did not seem as if it ever could emerge. 
This did not seem like an ordinary quarrel which 
could be made up. Both were very sure that their 
home happiness had been killed, and that nothing 
could ever restore it again, and each one blamed the 
other wholly for it. 

Christie went about her work with a heart-ache 
and a headache as well, for she had not shed so 
many tears before since her childhood. She was too 
miserable to care about any dinner herself, but at 
last she remembered that Hannah had not had any- 
thing to eat, and she went down to fix something for 
her. Then she found out that Howe had not touched 


EXPLANATIONS. 


363 


his dinner, and her indignation burned more hotly 
than ever. Suppose it was not quite as nicely cooked 
as it might have been, could he not have eaten it 
just this once? He had left it just to make her feel 
more badly, she had no doubt, and if she had had the 
least appetite before, she had none at all now. 

She cleared off the table and put things away 
without touching a mouthful, and then made a cup 
of tea and some toast for Hannah and took it up 
to her. She found that Hannah was much better, 
and had slept off’ the worst of her headache. In an 
hour after she had eaten her meal she came down- 
stairs, pale yet, but able to do something. The wash- 
ing of course would have to be left over to the next 
day, but Christie was glad to have her able to help 
with the dishes. She felt as if she was on the invalid 
list herself by this time, her head throbbed so wearily. 

By the middle of the afternoon the house was all in 
order, and Christie had planned a particularly appe- 
tizing supper, not because she wanted to make up 
with Howe, but with a defiant feeling that he should 
not have any further reason for his ill-temper. 

For the first time since she had been married she 
wanted to see her mother so badly that she felt as if 
she must go to her ; but as that was wholly out of 
the question, she determined to put on her wraps 
and go and make a little call upon Mrs. Bateman, 
whom she had rather neglected of late, she had been 
so busy. The cordial greeting with which her friend 
welcomed her was very comforting to Christie’s sore 


364 


Christie’s home-making. 


heart, and when Mrs. Bateman insisted npon her 
occupying the lounge in the pretty sitting-room which 
had been Howe’s study, and gently stroked her aching 
head, Christie’s heart overflowed and she told her 
friend the trouble that seemed such a great one. 

“ You won’t mind if I tell you where I think you 
have been making a mistake, will you, girlie?” 
asked Mrs. Bateman, stroking the soft hair and wish- 
ing that out of her own experience of life she might 
straighten all Christie’s tangles. 

“ No indeed, I only wish you would tell me,” Chris- 
tie sobbed. “ I just feel all tangled up, and if you 
could only straighten me out I should be so glad. 
I thought I was doing right, but I must have been 
doing wrong, or Howe would not have stopped lov- 
ing me,” and the tears came again. 

“ You silly child ! ” and Mrs. Bateman smiled in 
spite of herself. “ Your husband loves you just as 
dearly as ever, and the fact that you both lost your 
tempers for once does not prove that you do not love 
each other with all your hearts. You are not going 
to let this little rift mar the melody of your lives, 
but you are going to see how it might have been 
avoided and learn a little lesson for the future. I 
have been wanting to warn you for some time of the 
danger of overdoing. I know there is a perfect fas- 
cination about planning work and then carrying it out ; 
and when everything seems to be successful, and one 
is encouraged to enlarge her boundaries more and 
more, then comes the danger of spreading one’s self 


EXPLANATIONS. 


366 


out too thin to do one’s best work at every point. 
There is a limit to what one can do well, because 
there are limits to strength and time, and when we 
overstep these boundaries we do not do more good 
work really, we only do more work less well, and do 
ourselves and the work both injustice. You must 
find more helpers, dear, in your work, for no one can 
do all that you have planned out and attend to home 
duties besides, and you know those come first. You 
must calculate your time and strength carefully, and 
then estimate how much of them is due your home 
and your husband, for a wife’s duties come with a 
homemaker’s and must not be set aside for anything 
else. You can’t do everything, dear, and you have 
planned out enough for three people. You are 
wearing yourself out, and I have been afraid you 
would break down completely trying to do so much. 
Now when you go liome talk it over with your hus- 
band, and decide what work can best be put into 
the hands of others. Keep that which is most neces- 
sary for you to do, and then save the best of your- 
self for your home.” 

ti But — ” Christie stopped. 

“ But what, dear ? ” 

“ Promise me that you won’t think that I am con- 
ceited,” said Christie shyly. 

“ I will readily promise that,” answered Mrs. Bate- 
man. 

“Well, I really don’t see what I can give up,” 
Christie said. “ I know that sounds just exactly as 


366 


Christie’s home-making. 


if I said that I thought I could do everything bet- 
ter than any one else, but I don’t mean that. I 
know there are people who could do better than my- 
self in everything, but I don’t know who they are. 
I love my girls so much that I don’t see how any one 
else could do just what I can for them. It isn’t that 
others are not just as capable, only I love them more 
than any one else does. Then my infant-class, I 
couldn’t give that up either, and it is just so with 
everything I do. I was very tired the other day and 
began to think that I never had a moment to myself 
any more and was getting fretful and easily wor- 
ried, and I made up my mind to take some time for 
rest ; but when I tried to find some time that I could 
spare, I decided that there was not anything that I 
could give up.” 

“ But you will have to give up something soon,” 
persisted Mrs. Bateman. “ If you should make your- 
self sick, then you would have to lay everything 
down. Don’t you think it would be wiser to stop 
before you have to ? ” 

“It won’t make me sick,” Christie said. “You 
don’t know how strong lam. I have scarcely been 
sick in all my life, and I am sure work will never 
make me sick. Still I do think I could do better 
work if I did not try to do so much, and I promise 
you that I will not undertake any more at any rate, 
and the next time I have to neglect anything it shall 
not be home duties. I feel so much better for hav- 
ing come to see you, Mrs. Bateman. I was so mis- 


EXPLANATIONS. 


367 


erable that I did not know what to do with myself 
when I came, and you have made me happier than I 
could have believed possible. I will make up with 
Howe as soon as he comes home, and I am sure we 
will never quarrel again. If it has made him as un- 
happy as it has made me, I am sure he will make the 
same resolution.” 

“ I haven’t any doubt of it,” said Mrs. Bateman, 
as she kissed Christie good-bye. “Now, my dear, 
before you go, promise me that you will talk this 
matter of church work over with your husband, and 
see if there is not something that you can give up 
and put into others’ hands with advantage to your- 
self if not to the work.” 

“ I will talk it over,” Christie promised, “ but I 
am afraid that it won’t do any good, Mrs. Bateman. 
I am just conceited enough to think that I can’t be 
spared.” 

Christie had yet to learn that God’s work can go 
on, no matter who is laid aside among his workmen. 


368 


Christie's home-making. 


CHAPTER XLI. 

LAID ASIDE. 

It was beginning to be dark when Christie left 
Mrs. Bateman, for at four o’clock on a winter’s after- 
noon the early twilight begins to fall. She walked 
along hastily homeward, for she was eager now to 
see Howe and try to atone for her part of the disa- 
greement. She would own that she had made a 
mistake and neglected the duty that came first for 
one that she preferred at the time, but she would 
explain to him that it was Hannah’s unexpected ill- 
ness that made everything so behindhand, not any 
forgetfulness of his comfort. 

She would try to economize her time more after 
this, and show that she had time for all the church 
work she had undertaken and her home duties 
besides. There really was nothing that she could 
give up, as she had told Mrs. Bateman, for who else 
would love the work as she did and give her whole 
heart to it? and without whole-hearted service not 
very much can be accomplished. Perhaps it was 
with a pleasant sense of self-gratulation that Chris- 
tie thought of the success that had attended all her 
efforts, and it may be that she unconsciously took the 
credit of it to herself, instead of attributing it to 


LAID ASIDE. 


369 


God’s blessing. It would have been a strange thing 
if she had not had a little sense of her own importance 
when she was surrounded by so much love and held 
so highly in esteem for her work’s sake. 

She saw her husband’s tall figure in front of her 
as she turned into their street, and she hastened her 
steps that she might overtake him and tell him at 
once how sorry she was that she had spoken so hastily. 

There had been a light fall of snow, and under- 
neath the place where Christie stepped was a patch 
of ice whose slipperiness was only hidden but not 
removed by the snow upon it. Christie’s foot slipped, 
and though she made a frantic effort to regain her 
balance, she fell headlong, striking her head against 
the edge of the pavement, while her foot doubled 
under her as she fell. She screamed involuntarily 
as she fell, and Howe recognized her voice and turned 
around at once. He was not in time to catch her, 
but he had her in his arms almost as soon as her 
head struck the sidewalk. 

It was but a few minutes’ work to carry her home 
and despatch frightened Hannah for the doctor, 
while Howe bathed Christie’s head and did all he 
knew how to restore her to consciousness. Before 
the doctor drove up to the house Christie had opened 
her eyes, and her first conscious thought was of her 
husband, as her last one before falling had been a 
longing to meet him. 

She stretched out her hand toward him feebly. 

“ Howe, I am so sorry ! ” she began, but he stopped 


370 


chkistie’s home-making. 


“It was all my fault, darling. I have been 
wretched ever since. Can you ever forgive me ? ” 

Her smile and the pressure of her fingers were a 
sufficient answer, and then she shut her eyes again, 
for the pain in her head as well as in her limb made 
her feel faint and sick. 

When Dr. Bateman examined the cut on her head 
he relieved Howe’s fears by telling him that it was 
only a scalp wound, nothing as dangerous as it might 
have been and seemed at first. The sprain was the 
more serious of the two injuries, and might keep her 
confined to the house for a long time. 

Mrs. Bateman came over as soon as her husband 
came home with the report of Christie’s accident, 
and said she would stay until Christie had been made 
comfortable for the night and had gone to sleep. It 
was very pleasant to have the motherly touch of her 
friend undress her and make her comfortable, and 
Christie was so weak from the shock and pain that 
she did not give much thought to the extent of her 
injuries, but was glad to go to sleep as soon as pos- 
sible. 

She was surprised the next morning to find that 
moving was quite impossible, and the thought of her 
neglected duties distressed her more than the pain 
or the confinement. 

“ Oh, Howe, I cannot bear to stay in bed, just 
when I meant to show you what a good housekeeper 
I was going to be too,” she cried, bursting into 
tears. 


LAID ASIDE. 


371 


“ Never mind about that, darling,” said her hus- 
band. “That is the least part of it. I shall get 
along very well, and perhaps I may develop into a 
sufficiently good housekeeper to make you comforta* 
ble too ; but it is the thought of your pain and con- 
finement that I am distressed about. Don’t you 
want to have your mother come and stay with you 
for a while ? She has been promising to make us a 
visit this winter, and perhaps she could come now. 
I will write to her, for it might frighten her if I 
should telegraph.” 

“ That will be lovely,” Christie replied. “ I won’t 
mind being shut up half so much if I can have her 
to stay with me while you are out.” 

When the doctor came, Christie asked him how 
long it would probably be before she would be able 
to be about the house again. 

The doctor hesitated. 

“ I wonder if I had better tell you,” he said. 
“ Will you promise me to be a brave little woman? ” 

“I will try to be, but that is the best I can prom- 
ise,” Christie replied. 

“ Well, it will be six weeks at the very least,” the 
doctor said. “ You see you have a very bad sprain, 
and a thing of that kind takes a long time to get 
.well.” 

“ Six weeks ! ” echoed Christie. “ Oh, I never can 
waste six weeks lying still. Won’t it be sooner than 
that?” 

“Not any sooner, and if you are imprudent and 


372 


Christie’s home-making. 


try to get around too soon, it will be a good deal 
longer,” answered the doctor. “ It needn’t be wasted 
time though, my dear child. There are a great many 
lessons to learn that we can only learn when we are 
made to lie down in green pastures, and you won’t 
find this wasted time if you use it right.” 

“But I have so much to do,” Christie said tear- 
fully. 

“ I know you have,” the doctor answered. “ But 
you will find that some of the work will wait for you, 
and the part that won’t wait some one else will do. 
I know just how hard a lesson it is to learn that one 
can be spared when one leads an active life. There 
was a time in my life when I had the feeling that I 
was of a good deal of use in the world, and that cer- 
tain objects in which I was interested couldn’t do 
without me. It was very hard for me to find out 
that there were plenty of others who could step right 
into my place and fill it just as well if not better 
than I could. I am afraid at first I had the feel- 
ing that I would rather have had the work go undone 
than to have had any one else do it, but I had grace 
given me to get over that selfishness at last. When 
I was thoroughly convinced that I wasn’t indispen- 
sable in the world I was allowed to take up my work 
again, but not before, and I have often thought since 
then that it was a very wholesome lesson, if not a 
very pleasant one.” 

“ Were you taken sick ? ” asked Christie, forgetting 
her own troubles in this experience of the doctor’s. 



Christie’s Home-Making. Page 372 






LAID ASIDE. 


373 


“ Yes, I was laid up with inflammatory rheumatism 
all one long winter,” the doctor replied. “ I was not 
only of no use to any one else, but I was a burden to 
my family, and I have no doubt that I did a good deal 
to develop the graces of self-denial and patience in 
them, for which they may not have been properly 
grateful at the time. I suffered a good deal, and 
then I was very impatient because confinement was 
particularly irksome to me. I had to stay in that 
sick bed till I learned to be patient and submit to 
what the Lord thought was best for me, and when I 
had learned that I was allowed to get well. I know 
just how hard it is, my dear child, and I sympathize 
with you with all my heart. If I could hurry up 
matters I would gladly do it, but this is a case where 
you will have to let patience have its perfect work. 
Remember this, 

‘ They also serve who only stand and wait.’ ” 

“ But it’s the hardest kind of work,” said Christie. 

“ Isn’t that the kind that you really want to do 
for the Master ? ” asked the doctor. “ I know you 
want to serve him perfectly. It is only because you 
think that you can do more for him in active service 
that you feel as if this time would be wasted. Now 
try and remember that he has sent you this work of 
bearing suffering and confinement patiently instead 
of the work you would have chosen for yourself. 
You have shown how a Christian can glorify him by 
service and spending every power and talent in his 


374 


Christie’s home-making. 


work, now show how a Christian can glorify him 
through suffering and enforced inactivity. I know 
it is easier to preach than to practice, but I have had 
to practice too, so I know what I am talking about.” 

“I’ll try,” said Christie, trying to keep back her 
tears. “ Only six weeks seems so long.” 

“ That is because you are not used to sickness,” 
the doctor answered. “ Suppose it was six months 
or a year, or more, as it often is. You would have 
more reason for feeling as if you could not bear it in 
such a case. Now I must go away and take some 
bad news to another patient.” 

“ If you give him as much help in bearing it as you 
have given me,” Christie answered, “ I am sure he 
will be braver than I have been.” 


NEW WORKERS. 


375 


CHAPTER XLTI. 

NEW WORKERS. 

As soon as Christie’s mother heard of her acci- 
dent she started at once to her daughter, and Chris- 
tie was so glad to see her that she laughingly de- 
clared that she was not sorry she had come to grief, 
as long as her accident had brought her such a wel- 
come visitor. 

Although Christie was weak and felt shaken and 
bruised from her fall, while her sprain gave her a 
good deal of actual pain, yet the first two days of 
her confinement passed so pleasantly that she did not 
feel at all like rebelling at it. Everything in the 
house went along as smoothly as if she had been 
about, for Hannah was on her very best behavior, 
and then Christie’s mother was at the helm, so things 
could not go wrong nor show the absence of the 
mistress from her place of general manager. 

It was not until Thursday morning that Christie 
began to worry about the various outside duties that 
she must leave to others. 

“What shall I do about my Sunday-school class?” 
she said in despair to Howe, after she had silentty 
pondered the matter for some time without being 
able to think of any one whom she felt would try to 


376 


chkistie’s home-making. 


make the lesson as interesting and helpful as she her- 
self tried to make it. It was not an easy question 
to answer, for the infant- class is the hardest class in 
a Sunday-school to supply with a teacher, and the 
most critical class, unless it may be a young men’s 
Bible-class. Christie had begged to be allowed to 
teach it at home, and have the children come to the 
house, but the doctor very decidedly vetoed any 
such proposition. 

“ It isn’t to be thought of for a moment,” he said. 
“You are not strong enough, and you would get 
feverish and over-tired, and put yourself back more 
than the rest of all the other days of the week could 
remedy. You must get some one to take your place.” 

It was of no use to plead, for the doctor could be 
very peremptory when he thought best to differ with 
his patients. 

“ I suppose you know best,” said Christie with a 
sigh. 

“ Of course I do,” said the doctor with a smile ; 
“ I am quite sure about that. Don’t think for an 
instant of setting your opinion up against mine, for 
it would be perfect folly.” 

“Well, please listen a moment to what I am go- 
ing to say,” said Christie. “I want to tell you 
this. It might be better for some of your patients 
to keep quiet if they were in my condition, but it is 
different with me. It really is.” 

“ How so, I should like to know,” asked the doc- 
tor with a smile. 


KBW WORKERS. 


377 


“ I am so interested in my class, and it will be 
such a disappointment to me to give them up, that 
it seems to me that the disappointment and the fret- 
ting over it will be a great deal worse for me than 
overdoing a little would be. I suppose I would get 
a little too tired perhaps, but then I would feel so 
comfortable about my class that I think the peace of 
mind would more than make up for the fatigue. 
Don’t you agree with me ? ” 

“ No, I can’t say that I do, although that is quite 
an ingenious argument,” the doctor answered. “ In 
the first place, you wouldn’t have strength to talk to 
the children for five minutes if I should let them 
come, Mrs. Stanley ; and, besides that, the excite- 
ment would be so very bad for you that I should pre- 
fer to have you have the anxiety over your class, if 
you must have one or the other. But I don’t think 
you ought to worry about them. They will do very 
well without you for a few Sundays, and will enjoy 
you all the more when they get you back again ” 
Christie knew it was of no use to say any more, 
but she lay back on her pillow and wiped away the 
tears that would come, feeling as if she was very 
hardly used. It was her first experience of even the 
slightest illness, and she could not get used to the 
thought that she would have to give up her own 
plans for awhile and submit patiently to inaction. 
She was surprised to find how strong her tempta- 
tion was to be fretful and unreasonable. Her nerves . 
were all on edge, and it was almost intolerable to her 


378 


chkistie’s home-making. 


to be obliged to ask even such a loving and attentive 
nurse as her mother for everything that she wanted. 
Only those who have always been well and used to 
gratifying all their wishes as quickly as they are con- 
ceived, and then are laid aside and compelled to ask 
for all that they helped themselves to hitherto, can 
understand how irksome helplessness is. 

Although Christie tried to be patient and not ask 
for more than she really needed, so as not to make 
too many extra steps, yet she found that every few 
minutes there was something that she would want 
that if she had been on her feet she would have 
helped herself to, without realizing hardly that she 
had had a wish and gratified it. It worried her al- 
most as much to do without what she wanted as to 
ask for it and feel that she was giving trouble, even 
although it was not considered as such. 

“ I don’t see how people are ever patient when they 
are sick. I am sure I shall show how cross I am in a 
day or two more,” she thought to herself on Thurs- 
day evening. 

There had been no arrangement made for her 
class yet, and she had come to' the conclusion that it 
would not be possible to get a teacher for them, and 
they would all be scattered and forget everything that 
they ever knew before she could get back to them. 
All that she had done in any of her undertakings 
would have to be done over again, for she was quite 
sure no one would take her place. She turned her 
face to the wall so that her mother could not see the 


NEW WORKERS. 


379 


tears which would find their way down her cheeks, 
and gave herself np to her gloomy thoughts. Poor 
little Christie ! She felt as if her little world could 
not move along without her, and it seemed like such 
a mistake to lay her aside. 

“ Christie, are you asleep, dear ? ” asked her mother 
softly, a little later. 

Christie was so miserable that she was half determ- 
ined not to answer,, for she did not feel like talk- 
ing. No one could comfort her, she thought, for no 
one could assure her that her work should not suffer 
through her absence. Her mother waited a moment 
for a reply, and then Christie thought better of her 
determination not to speak, and she answered quietly, 
“Yes, mother, what is it? I am not asleep.” 

“ There is a young lady down-stairs who would 
like to see you if you feel able to see her. Her name 
is Miss Nelson.” 

“ Yes, I think I would like to see her,” Christie 
answered, not quite sure that she wanted to see any 
one, but yet feeling as if a chat with Miss Nelson 
might brighten her up a little. 

“ You look as if you had been crying,” said Miss 
Nelson, after she had been in Christie’s room a few 
minutes, her quick eyes spying traces of tears upon 
the flushed cheeks. 

“I was foolish enough to cry a little,” Christie 
said. “It wasn’t because I was in pain though. I 
am not enough of a baby to cry about that, but I 
am so discouraged about all the things that I am 


380 CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 

in the habit of doing that I can’t do while I am 
sick.” 

“ What, for instance ? ” asked Miss Nelson. 

“ The infant-class was troubling me to-day more 
than anything else,” Christie replied. “ I don’t know 
who can take it, and I do so want it to have a good 
teacher, for they are such dear little tots.” 

Miss Nelson hesitated. 

“ I came to ask you something, but it is so hard 
that I am afraid that I shall go away without saying 
it.” 

“What is it?” asked Christie, smiling. 

“ I knew there was no one in the Sunday-school 
who would take that class, for every one is afraid of 
it. I was thinking that you might worry over it, and 
so I came. Now it seems like clear presumption for me 
to offer to take it, when I am such a poor teacher 
anyway and used to neglect that class so shamefully 
when I had it ; but still, if you will trust me with 
the children and will give me some little idea of how 
you manage with them, I will do my very best with 
them till you can come back. I know them all, and 
I will be patient with them, and try to teach them 
what I can. Will it be any help to you to let me 
take them ? ” 

“ That would be so nice,” Christie exclaimed. She 
was not afraid that Miss Nelson would neglect them 
or be impatient with these lambs of the flock, for 
she had had very different ideas of late concerning 
the duty of Sunday-school teachers, and was very 


NEW WORKERS. 


381 


faithful with the class of little girls that had been 
assigned to her. 

“ What will you do with your class ?” she asked a 
moment later. 

“ Mr. Moore told me that he would put them into 
a small class of children about the same age, and I 
am sure the children will be willing to make this 
arrangement for a little while.” 

“ I wish I could tell you how you have relieved 
my mind,” Christie said gratefully. “ I can’t tell 
you how cross and blue I have been all the afternoon 
because I could not see what was to become of my 
class while I was sick. I shall feel as if all my other 
troubles will be charmed away somehow, and I 
surely won’t cry over them any more.” 

' “lam so glad to have been of the least bit of help,” 
said Miss Nelson. “Now I must go, for I am afraid 
I have stayed too long already. I wish I could bear 
some of the pain and confinement for you.” 

“ You are doing a great deal more than that would 
be for me,” Christie answered as she bade her friend 
farewell. 

One burden had been lightened, and Christie 
thought self-reproachfully that she had not exercised 
any faith at all, but had worried just as if it had all 
depended upon herself. 

Her circle of King’s Daughters was the next thing 
that she puzzled over. Who would take care of them 
for a few weeks? 

It was the very last person of whom Christie 


382 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


would have thought herself who came to the 
rescue. 

Mrs. Wilson heard through the doctor of Christie’s 
anxiety about these girls, and making some inquiry 
into what work they generally did and how their 
meetings were conducted, she astonished Christie, 
and herself a little perhaps, by offering to meet with 
them until Christie should be well again. 

“ As a permanent leader I should be a disastrous 
failure,” she said. “ But I do hate to have you 
worry about them, and I know that for a few weeks 
I can manage to meet with them, and practise the 
hymns with them, and help them with anything else 
that they generally do. You have had too much to 
do lately anyway, and it will be good for some of 
us lazy ones to take your place for a little while, and ’ 
then perhaps we can realize how much you do. I 
suppose you will find them generally demoralized by 
the time you get them back into your hands, but it 
will keep them together to have an older person 
meet with them, and that is something, I know. If 
it will set your mind the least bit more at ease it 
will be all I shall ask.” 

“You are so good!” said Christie gratefully. 
“You will be just the very one, for you can manage 
girls so nicely and they all like you.” 

She was glad that Mrs. Wilson’s offer had come 
first, for a day or two later Miss Elliot called on the 
same errand, and while Christie appreciated her 
kindness in being willing to assume the burden, yet 


NEW WOEKERS. 


383 


she felt that the girls would not have welcomed 
Miss Elliot even as a temporary leader, and she 
would have scattered them instead of holding them 
together. 

It was not altogether a surprise to her when Mrs. 
Bush told her that she would keep an eye upon the 
doings at the girls’ reading-room, for that lady had 
become so interested in the girls and their doings that 
she was almost as much their friend as was Chris- 
tie herself. 

The girls did not mind her brusque manner, for 
they knew that she was very kind-hearted beneath 
her somewhat rough exterior, and they were very 
willing to have her take Mrs. Stanley’s place till she 
should be able to come back again. 

“ I have found out that I can be spared,” Christie 
said a week later to Mrs. Bateman. “ When you 
advised me to lay aside some of my tasks, I reall}' 
thought it would be impossible ; and now you see I 
have had them all taken out of my hands, and every- 
thing goes on quite as well without me. I am almost 
disappointed to find out of how little use I am in 
the world. It would not make any real difference to 
any one whether I lived or died.” 

“ Now you are undervaluing yourself, which is 
quite as bad as overestimating your own worth, 
though I do not say that you ever did that,” said 
Mrs. Bateman, noticing a discouraged tone in Chris- 
tie’s voice. “ Of course you are missed. We miss 
you in church and everywhere else. That your 


384 Christie’s home-making. 

place can be temporarily filled does not prove at all 
that you can be spared just as well as not. We may be 
able to spare the sunshine now and then for a couple 
of days, but that does not prove that we do not miss 
it nor that it does not brighten the world up when 
we do have it. Now, isn’t that a pretty comparison ? 
You ought to feel very much complimented at being 
likened to sunshine.” 

“ I feel anything but sunshiny now,” Christie said 
dolefully. “ Oh, it is so hard to lie here and just be 
a bother to every one ! I shall be so glad when I am 
well again. I never realized before half how hard 
it was to be sick.” 

“ It is hard for us to realize things that have not 
come within our own experience,” Mrs. Bateman re- 
plied. “ It is hard to see too why some troubles 
are permitted to come. It is such a comfort to trust 
that it is all for the best. I know just how hard it 
is for you, Christie dear, to be laid aside from your 
life of active service even for these few weeks, but I 
know that it is because it is best for you, and that in 
this way God wants you to serve him. Remember, 

‘“He only knowethhow to serve 
Who knoweth how to wait/ 

and he is giving you something to do for him now 
that you could not do in health.” 

“ But working is much easier than waiting,” 
Christie sighed. “ I really used to think that I was 
willing to do anything that God wanted me to, Mrs. 


NEW WORKERS. 


385 


Bateman, but I find that I am not a bit willing to 
lie here and not do anything.” 

“ You will learn patience,” Mrs. Bateman answered, 
smoothing the troubled forehead with loving touch. 
“ It is too hard a lesson to be learned all at once, 
but it will come at last.” 

26 


386 


chkistie’s home-making. 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

WAITING. 

Six weeks have passed a way, but instead of find- 
ing Christie restored to health she is farther from 
recovery than when she first met with her accident. 
The fall had injured her more seriously than had 
been at first supposed, and an illness had resulted 
from her internal injuries and the jar of the fall that 
might confine her for weeks longer to her bed. If 
the knowledge of this had come to her suddenly it 
it would have been intolerably hard to bear, but it 
was only that the period of her real improvement 
seemed just as far ofP every day, and that she did not 
seem to gain any strength. At last she began to 
realize herself that she was not improving and that 
new pains divided her strength with the sprain 
which was still painful, and then the doctor told her 
that it might still be some time, how long he could 
not say, before she would be restored to health. 

Christie often thought during the long days that 
followed, and perhaps she was right, that it would 
have been less hard to endure a serious illness that 
would have come to a crisis, and then terminated 
either one way or the other in a given length of time. 
In that case she would have been sufficiently ill not 
to mind the confinement so much, and each day 


WAITING. 


387 


would have seemed so much nearer the end. It was 
very hard to face a lingering trouble which might 
drag its slow length along through the entire winter, 
and feel well enough to want to be active and ener- 
getic, while strength and nerves were only equal to 
a very slight exertion. She had never been con- 
scious of possessing a nervous temperament before, 
for her perfect health had made her nerves her serv- 
ants instead of her masters. Pain and restlessness 
soon gave them the control of the weak body, and 
sometimes Christie made up her mind that she pre- 
ferred the days of actual pain to those days when 
with every nerve quivering she tried to control her 
impatience and the irritability which were growing 
apace. She mourned over them, poor child, and at- 
tributed them to her own wickedness of heart, in- 
stead of remembering that it was more physical than 
anything else. It was just as hard for her to do her- 
self justice as to show it to any on^ else, when she 
was ill this depressed, morbid condition. 

“ If I could only have mother with me I ” she sighed 
again and again, feeling as if her mother’s enforced 
absence was the last straw that made her burdem 
unendurable. This was no less deplored by her mother 
than by herself, but it seemed to be necessary. 
When Mrs. Gilbert had been with Christie for nearly 
three weeks her father began to speak in his letters 
of not feeling well, and before long word was sent 
to Mrs. Gilbert by their family physician that her 
husband had been prostrated by typhoid fever, and 


388 


Christie’s home-making. 


if it was possible for her to leave her daughter she 
was very much needed at home. 

There was no question but that her mother was 
more needed there than with Christie, and indeed 
Christie herself would have been the last one to 
interpose an obstacle in the way of her mother’s re- 
turn, even if her actual need of her presence had 
been greater than it was. It was very hard to say 
good-bye to her, though, and since she had gone 
away Christie found the tedium of the sick-room 
harder than ever to bear. Howe was with her as 
much as he could be, but he had his hands full with 
his church work, and there was but very little time 
that he and Christie felt that they could take for 
each other’s society. He had to spend the mornings 
in his study to prepare his sermons, and he could 
not get along with any less than five hours of 
preparation every day for his pulpit work. 

He had set before himself the aim of being a 
pastor and preacher both and not neglecting the 
duties of either, therefore his afternoons were very 
much occupied with calls, so that an hour or two 
before tea-time was really about all that Christie 
saw of her husband during these days of invalid- 
ism. There were meetings of some kind nearly every 
night in the week, and while these meetings were 
not too onerous for any of the others who attended 
them, as no one else attended them all, yet they 
took up nearly every evening. 

Christie would not have wanted her husband to 


WAITING. 


389 


neglect a single one of his duties to stay with her, 
and she always wore a bright face when he was with 
her so that he should not know how lonely and blue 
she was when he was absent, but it cost her consider- 
able effort not to complain. 

Howe, too, tried to be as cheerful as possible, for 
he knew it was far harder for Christie than it was 
for him, but he missed her presence around the 
house and the comfort that she always inspired. In 
a thousand and one little ways, that he could hardly 
have told if he had been asked, he noticed her ab- 
sence. 

Hannah, to do her justice, tried to do as she knew 
Christie would have wished, and as far as it was 
possible the most minute directions for every detail 
of the housekeeping issued from the sick-room ; but 
there was very much that only the mistress’s hand 
and eye could remedy, and there was a cheerlessness 
about this housekeeping by proxy that both Howe 
and Christie felt, though they would not admit it. 

It was such a change from the active, busy life 
that had scarcely a moment’s leisure in it, that it 
was no wonder that Christie found it hard to adjust 
herself to it. It seemed a useless life, even although 
she tried to assure herself that it must be best, since 
it was what God planned for her. Even when we 
recognize and acknowledge a fact with our reason, it 
is not always an easy task to make our heart accord 
with it, and Christie found the comfort which she 
couldh ave carried to any one else in similar circum- 


390 


Christie’s home-making. 


stances very hard to receive herself. She began to 
worry about her spiritual condition, for if she was a 
Christian, surely, she reasoned, she would not find it 
so hard to submit to illness and imprisonment, and 
she would not be so depressed and irritable if she had 
the love of God in her heart. 

It was in the depths of one of these moods that 
the doctor found her one day. Howe had been out 
for some hours, so she had had an excellent oppor- 
tunity to get as miserable as she could without being 
interrupted in her gloomy self-examination. 

“ What is the matter ? ” asked the doctor cheerily, 
as he found that she was not disposed to enter into 
conversation with him. “ You haven’t got that pain 
again, have you ? ” 

“ It’s worse than any pain,” answered Christie sor- 
rowfully. ‘‘ I hate to have you know what is the 
matter with me, and yet I believe I would feel better 
if I told you about it. It isn’t of any use to tell 
Howe, for he would think I just imagined it, or was 
blue, and it is too real a thing to be argued away in 
that way.” 

“ Why, what is this dreadful trouble ? ” asked the 
doctor sympathetically, though he did not seem as 
much impressed by its gravity as Christie would 
have liked. 

“I have just found out such a dreadful thing 
lately,” Christie began, her lips quivering as she spoke. 
“ I am sure that I have been deceiving myself all 
along. I never have been a Christian after all, and 


WAITING. 


391 


now I am so miserable that I don’t know what to 
do.” 

Christie ended in a burst of tears. It was a relief 
to put her trouble into words, although she expected 
that the doctor would reprove her for having allowed 
herself to indulge in false hopes and think that she 
was a Christian when she had no right to bear 
the name. He was silent for a moment, and 
Christie was sure that he was trying to find words 
sufficiently severe in which to condemn her. Her 
face was hidden in the pillow and her tears were 
flowing fast. 

“ My dear child, your digestion is out of order,” 
he said at last. 

Christie had wrought herself up to such intensity 
of feeling that these words in the place of the rebuke 
she had expected brought her down to the common- 
place with such a sudden revulsion of feeling that in 
spite of herself she burst into a half-hysterical laugh. 

“ Oh, I mean it,” said the doctor ; “ and what is 
more, I want you to take my word for it until you 
are able to see it yourself as plainly as I do.” 

Christie shook her head. 

“ I suppose you will think I am obstinate, but it 
isn’t that. I really know you are wrong and I am 
right about this matter. I ought to know the better.” 

“No, I think your physician knows the best in a 
case of this kind,” he persisted. “I wish you would 
take my word for it, for I don’t think you are open 
to conviction, no matter how clearly I may prove the 


892 


Christie’s home-making. 


matter to you. What makes you so sure that you 
are not a Christian ? ” 

“ Because I don’t feel so,” Christie answered. 

“Well, we all differ so in feelings, suppose you 
tell me, if you don’t mind, just how you think a 
Christian feels.” 

“ When I used to think I was a Christian I used 
to be happy all the time,” Christie answered. “ I 
was always glad to do what I thought the Lord 
wanted me to do. I felt sure of his love for me and 
of my love for him, and so I could not be anything but 
hopeful and happy all the time. Now I am perfectly 
miserable. I cannot feel willing to lie here all the 
time and neglect everything that I ought to be do- 
ing. I don’t feel as if the Lord loved me, and I am 
sure that I cannot love him or I would not feel so 
bitterly about this trouble. Wouldn’t you call all 
those dreadful feelings not being a Christian ? ” 

“In those days when you were sure of being a 
Christian, I believe you enjoyed the best of good 
h^ealth, didn’t you ? ” asked the doctor. 

“ Yes, I never knew what it was to have a pain or 
an ache,” Christie answered, wondering what the 
doctor’s question had to do with the matter under 
discussion. 

“ You had plenty of out-door exercise, companion- 
ship with congenial friends, occupation enough to 
keep your mind pleasantly employed, and a good 
digestion ? ” 

“ Yes.” 


WAITING. 


393 


“ Well, then, my dear child, you might just as well 
have accused yourself of not being a Christian then 
as now. If you had wanted to accuse yourself in 
that way, you might have argued, ‘It is not any- 
thing but my good health and my environments that 
makes me so happy and contented. I think it is my 
love for the Lord that makes me feel willing to sub- 
mit to his will in all things, but it is really because 
he never sends me anything but what is pleasant; 
so how can I be sure that I am a Christian at all ? ’ 
You are just as much of a Christian now as you 
were then, but you must bring your common-sense 
into your spiritual life, for you can’t get along with- 
out it there any better than you can in temporal 
matters. Now for the first time in your life you are 
shut up in the house, away from the fresh air, the 
change of scene, and the variety of occupation that 
have always had a great deal to do with making you 
contented and happy. You are lonely a good deal 
of the time, you are nervous, and you bear consider- 
able pain very bravely and uncomplainingly. Under 
those circumstances do you think it is reasonable to 
expect that your spiritual life should not be affected 
by your physical weakness and limitations? I 
have often noticed that the thermometer of spiritual 
life goes up or down according to the condition of 
the body. A bad digestion will naturally beget de- 
spondency, and it takes a stalwart saint to rejoice in 
the Lord when his liver is out of order. I know 
that sounds irreverent, but I don’t mean it so. I 


394 


Christie’s home-making. 


say solemnly and in all reverence that I believe peo- 
ple will be better, more hopeful and happier Chris- 
tians, when they pay more attention to the laws of 
health and good hygiene ; and I believe it to be a 
physical impossibility for any of us to rise to the 
highest plane of love and trust while our body is out 
of order and we are shut away from the fresh air and 
sunshine, which are God’s best gifts to us. Don’t 
you take this time to worry over whether you are a 
Christian or not. Declare that you are, and rest on 
that. This is a grand time to trust when you can’t see. 
By and by, when you are well enough to take a 
brisk walk in this bracing winter air, then come to 
me and we will talk the matter over again if you 
still have any doubts. Why, a turn down to the 
corner and back again would send your despondency 
higher than a kite. Now isn’t your digestion out of 
order again ? ” 

“ Yes,” confessed Christie. “ I couldn’t eat much 
breakfast, and the little bit I did eat feels as if I had 
been eating stones or some other light diet.” 

“Exactly so,” and the doctor nodded in triumph. 
“ And yet you blame all this despondency upon your 
lack of love for the Lord. You love him just as 
much as I do, I am sure, but you are in the depths 
physically so you can’t see it nor believe it. Now 
here is one prescription that I will leave at the drug- 
store to be filled and sent around to you, and another 
that I will leave with you, ‘ Don't worry' There 
haven’t I given you quite a lecture ? You see I don’t 


WAITING. 


395 


forget that I am one of the elders in the church, and 
so you come under my jurisdiction in more ways 
than that of a patient. Now I shall hope to hear a 
more cheerful report of you at dinner time, from 
Mrs. Bateman.” 

“Oh, is she coming to see me? ” and Christie’s 
face brightened up. 

“ Yes, and I think she will counteract the indiges- 
tion just as much as the medicine. Good-bye,” and 
the doctor hurried away, leaving Christie to more 
cheerful reflections. 


396 


CHRISTIE’S HOME-MAKING. 


CHAPTER XLIV. 

COMFORT. 

It was some time before Mrs. Bateman came, and 
before Christie heard her voice in the hall below her 
head had begun to throb with the blinding pain that 
was of almost daily occurrence lately, and her nerves 
were all on edge bj^ the hour of expectancy. 

“Does your head ache so badly, dear child?” 
asked Mrs. Bateman, as she put her hand on the hot 
forehead. “ Shall I be of any use to you if I stay, 
or will you be better alone ? ” 

“ That feels so good I ” Christie said, as the soft 
hand passed back and forth with the touch that 
always seemed to her magnetic in drawing out pain. 
“I will just shut my eyes for a little while and 
then I believe it will all go away.” 

Half an hour later Christie opened her eyes with 
a smile, after a light doze into which she had fallen. 

“ You see what a magician yon are,” she said. 
“ You have charmed away my headache. Now talk 
to me and make me feel good and happy if you can- 
I don’t think any one else could, unless it might be 
the doctor. I think he dragged me out of the very 
deepest of the depths in which I fell to-day.” 

“ I think I have something here that will comfort 
you in any pain,” Mrs. Bateman replied. 


COMFORT. 


397 ^ 


“ What is it ? ” Christie asked. 

‘‘ It is a poem that was given to me only last even- 
ing, but I thought of you as I read it, and I wanted 
you to have it. I must leave it with you to read by 
yourself, for it is too long to read aloud to you, but 
there are just one or two little places that I want to 
read to you before I go, if you are sure it will not 
make your head ache.” 

“Please do read it all to me,” Christie said. 
“ Indeed I am sure it will not make my head ache.” 

“ It is called ‘ CJgo Bassi’s Sermon in the Hospital,’ 
and it is a translation of a sermon upon the text, ‘ I 
am the true vine, and ye are the branches,’ which 
was preached by Fra Ugo Bassi in a hospital in 
Rome. It was translated and put into blank verse 
by Eleanor Hamilton King. Speaking of pain, he 
says, 

“ But if this be the hardest ill of all 
For mortal flesh and heart to bear in peace, 

It is the one comes straightest from God’s hand, 

And makes us feel him nearest to ourselves. 

“ God gives us light and love and all good things 
Richly for joy and power to use aright; 

But then we may forget him in his gifts. 

We cannot well forget the hand that holds 
And pierces us and will not let us go, 

However much we strive from under it. 

If God speak to thee in the summer air, 

The cool soft breath thou leanest forth to feel 
Upon thy forehead, dost thou feel it God? 

Nay, but the wind ; and when heart speaks to heart 
And face to face, when friends meet happily 
A nd all is merry, God is also there ; 

But thou perceivest but thy fellow’s part : 

And when out of the dewy garden green 
Some liquid syllables of music strike 


398 


Christie’s home-making. 


A sudden speechless rapture through thy frame, 

Is it God’s voice that moves thee ? Nay, the bird’s, 

Who sings to God and all the world and thee. 

But when the sharp strokes flesh and heart run through 
For thee, and not another — only known 
In all the universe through sense of thine, 

Not caught by eye or ear, not felt by touch 
Nor apprehended by the spirit’s sight, 

But only by the hidden tortured nerves 
In all their incommunicable pain — 

God speaks himself to us, as mothers speak 
To their own babes, upon the tender flesh 
With fond familiar touches close and dear; 

Because he cannot choose a softer way 
To make us feel that he himself is near, 

And each apart his own beloved and known- 

“ Sweet is it, when a babe opens its eyes. 

Blue, smiling, to its mother’s morning kiss ; 

But thou, when waking to the morning light 
With unrefreshed and aching limbs, mayst feel 
The heavy pressure of a constant pain 
Upon thy forehead and the weary brows 
Throbbing beneath an unabated load. 

Is it not God’s own very finger-tips 
Laid on thee in a tender steadfastness — 

The light and careful touches which to thee 
Seem heavy, because measured to thy strength, 

With none to spare ? And yet he does not fail 
For thy impatience, but stands by thee still. 

Patient, unfaltering, till thou too shalt grow 
Patient, and wouldst not miss the sharpness grown 
To custom which assures him at thy side. 

Hand to thy hand and not far off in heaven. 

“ And when the night comes, and the weariness 
Grows into fever, and thy anguish grows 
Fiercer, and thou beseechest Him with tears, 

‘ Depart from me, O Lord, and let me rest.’ 

He will not leave thee ; He will not depart. 

Nor loose thee nor forget thee, but will clasp 
Thee closer in the thrilling of his arms 
No prayer of ours shall ease before their time. 

He gives his angels charge of those who sleep. 

But he himself watches with those who wake. 

******** 


COMFORT. 


399 


If thou, impatient, shouldst let slip thy cross. 

Thou wilt not find it in this world again, 

Nor in another ; here and here alone 
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake. 

In other worlds we shall more perfectly 

Serve him and love him, praise him, work for him, 

Grow near and nearer him with all delight; 

But then we shall not any more be called 
To suffer, which is our appointment here. 

Canst thou not suffer then one hour, or two? 

If he should call thee from thy cross to-day. 

Saying, ‘ ’Tis finished ; that hard cross of thine 
From which thou prayest for deliverance,’ 

Thinkest thou not some passion of regret 

Would overcome thee ? Thou wouldst say, ‘ So soon ? 

Let me go back and suffer yet awhile 
More patiently ; I have not yet praised God.’ 

And he might answer to thee, ‘ Never more ; 

All pain is done with.’ Whensoe’er it comes. 

The summons that we look for, it will seem 
Soon, yea, too soon. Let us take heed in time. 

That God may now be glorified in us ; 

And while we suffer let us set our souls 
To suffer perfectly, since this alone. 

The suffering which is this world’s special grace, 

May here be perfected and left behind.” 

That is the most comforting poem that I ever read 
or heard,” said Christie, as the sweet voice of the 
reader died away. ‘‘ I wish that every one who has 
to suffer any kind of pain anywhere might hear that. 
It is so beautiful to think of the pain being God’s 
touch upon us. If that does not help me to be 
patient, nothing will. Thank you very much for 
bringing it to me, Mrs. Bateman.” 

Did you ever have a thought grow into a part of 
your life? If you have, you can understand how 
every word of that beautiful poem grew into Chris- 
tie’s heart until it became a part of her very self 
and taught her patience and submission. Not all at 


iUO 


chkistie’s home-making. 


once. It was too great a gain to be lightly won, and 
it took days and weeks of weariness and pain before 
she could wholly grasp its meaning. In the enforced 
quietude and hours of loneliness she learned very 
much that could never have come to her in the bustle 
of active life, and when health and strength came 
back to her with the budding life of the springtide, 
she did not feel that her winter had been wasted, 
even although she had no gathered sheaves to show. 

Carefully she took up her duties again, trying to 
measure her strength more accurately, so that she 
might not undertake more than she could perform 
nor undertake new duties to the neglect of the old. 
The happy home life began again, and with a quiet, 
steady radiance the light from the Manse shone out 
and brightened the lives of all who came within its 
reach. 

It was like a light-house whose guiding light 
cheers and encourages the mariner, and many a dis- 
couraged heart was comforted by the sunlight of 
love which illumined this home. It had been con- 
secrated to the Master’s use, and in his name any 
guest whom he sent to the door was welcomed gladly 
and lovingly as his representative, while the husband 
and wife in their home-making remembered, 

"‘I was a stranger, and ye took me in. * * * * 

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” 


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